Tomb Raider
by fatal frame fanatic
Summary: Archeologist and Adventurer Lara Croft gears up for her deadliest mission yet: Recovery of the fabled Scion! COMPLETE! Please Read & Review! :D novelization of TR1 & TR:A
1. Prologue: Calcutta

P

rologue

**Calcutta**

A rugged, southern man wearing a plaid button up shirt and tattered blue jeans walked into the Imperial Hotel, holding a crumpled memo. He walked to the reception desk. "Uuuh, Laura Cruz?" He asked in a thick southern accent. The man at the reception gave him an annoyed smile and took the memo from him. "Ah, miss Lara Croft. She went out several hours ago in our rent-a-jeep, so I don't know when she will be back. Can I take a message mister…?" He trailed off.

"Just call me Larson…Well shit I came all this way for nuthin and Miss…" He trailed off as the sound of a vehicle came closer. Larson walked over to the window and saw a speeding jeep quickly advancing to the hotel, leaving behind it a giant cloud of dust. "Ah, here she comes now." The man said, smiling nervously. It skidded to a stop, looking like a complete and total wreck. There were jungle leaves and branches poking out at places, the windshield was cracked, and there wasn't one area that didn't have at least three dents. He saw her face, which was beautifully shaped with thin-framed round red tinted sunglasses hiding her eyes. Her hair was brunette, several locks of it gently framing the side of her face. Over her shoulder was a long braid. He saw her face contort into a mix of struggle and anger, and finally she gave the door a swift kick. It fell off the jeep completely, landing on the ground with a dull thud. She stepped out, stretching. Larson looked her body up and down. She was very thin, but athletically built, with a very curvaceous body. She was wearing a tight blue sleeveless top and tight brown short shorts that were rolled up to her thigh. On her hips was a large belt that attached to a set of holsters, each strapping on at her thigh. Inside them was a pair of silver Browning HP handgun pistols. She finished her stretch and walked to the hotel, stepping inside. "Hey Jackson." She said, her voice was thick with a posh, high class British accent. "You should really tell the tribesman up on Wakalilah Mountain to be a little friendlier. They got really rough when I asked them for this." She took off her brown backpack and reached inside, pulling out a gold Idol. It was about six inches tall and was a short representation of Buddha. He laughed. "I'll work on that Lara." He said half sarcastically half jokingly. She nodded and walked over to one of the round lounge tables and sat down on one of the red oriental chairs.

"What's a man gotta do to get that kind of attention from ya?" Came his southern male accent from behind. A magazine was thrown down on the table she was sitting in front of with her on the cover, her pistols drawn and raised and behind her the dead body of Sasquatch in the forest of North America. Lara smiled, her favorite sunglasses hiding her eyes. "It's hard to say exactly, but you seem to be doing fine." He laughed.

"Well great, though truth is it aint me that wants you."

"No?"

"Noooo, Miss Jacqueline Natla does, head of Natla Technologies, you know, "great of all things bright and beautiful." He laughed and opened a laptop in front of Lara. A woman came up wearing a black trenchcoat. She had striking pale blue eyes and short, shiny blonde hair. Her lips were red, full, and plump. "Seal it Larson…"

"_Larson huh…?"_ Lara thought.

"Ma'am." He said obediently. Money started falling from the top of the screen. Natla smiled and held her hands out. "Feast your eyes on this Lara, how does that make your wallet rumble?" Lara laughed and stood up.

"I'm sorry, I only play for sport." She said quickly.

"Then you'll like a big part." Lara looked back down at the screen as it changed to a snowy mountaintop. "Peru," she started again, "vast mountain ranges to cover. Sheer walls of ice. Rocky crags, savage winds and, there's this little trinket. An age-old artifact of mystical power buried in the unfound Tomb of Qualopec." Natla smiled. Lara was thoroughly intrigued now.

"That's my interest. You could leave tomorrow…are you busy tomorrow?" Lara smiled.

"Actually, I'm free all month." She lied. She had an appointment to meet with her friend Anaya Imanu in Las Vegas, but she could call that little trip off. "Perfect, I'll arrange your meeting with a guide and by tomorrow you should be in Peru." Natla said, smiling. Lara's own smile faltered a bit. "I'm getting a guide?" She asked. Natla nodded, then quickly motioned for Larson to turn off the laptop. He took Lara's home phone number and tried placing a kiss on her forehead. She backed away, raising an eyebrow at him. He coughed and shrugged, then quickly left the Imperial Hotel.

At home, Winston greeted her with open arms. She gave him a warm smile. "How was Calcutta?" He asked. She nodded.

"It was okay, very nice backdrops." He nodded.

"So, what about this meeting with Miss Jacqueline Natla?" Lara smiled.

"Have you ever heard of the Tomb of Qualopec?" She asked him, sitting down on her luxurious sofa. He followed her and shook his head. "I can't say that I have." Lara shook with excitement. "I haven't either." He looked at her a moment longer, and sighed with a smile. "You truly amaze me Lady Croft. If only your father could see you." Lara lowered her head, then jumped up toward her equipment room. Her friend Zip usually occupied it, but that changed when he left with his old flame Natalya Damescu. She looked around on the Internet for a moment, but couldn't find anything about any old relics or artifacts or a Tomb of Qualopec. "You remember your quest for The Ark? In Ethiopia?" Winston asked. Lara had tried to keep that little memory suppressed as much as she could. "Yeah, why?"

"Well, that was about 3 years ago. It was your first major adventure. This will only be your second." She shrugged. "I've traveled, I've sharpened my shooting skills, I've-" Winston cut her off. "That's not what I mean. I know you are more than in shape for this, but I just-" This time Lara cut him short. "I'll be fine Winston, don't worry." She placed her hand on the side of his face then started upstairs toward a hot shower and some sleep.

It was about 11:30pm when her phone started ringing. She reached toward her belt and holsters hanging on her bedpost that was holding her two silver pistols, but stopped and pulled the sheet off her bed. She walked over to her wall phone and picked it up. "Hello?" She said groggily. "Hey, this is Jacqueline Natla. Is Lara Croft there?"

"Speaking." She said, annoyed at how perky Natla was.

"Hey, I have your arrangements. You are to meet your guide at the foot of Mount Kermises in Peru. I checked the forecast, it looks like snow so dress warmly."

"Who is my guide?" Lara asked after a few seconds.

"He's of Latin American descent, his name is Carlos Verdugo." Lara pondered at the thought of his image. "Hello?" Came Natla's voice. Lara shook her head. 

"Yeah sorry. Okay thank you _Miss Jacqueline._" Lara didn't know why but she hoped that putting an edgy, sort of sarcastic tone to her name would aggravate Natla. "No problem, _Miss Croft._" She replied, doing the same to her. Lara sat the receiver down, then shrugged and headed back over to her canopy bed.

The M18 helicopter dropped her off in a little village a few miles from the base of the mountain. She went into their market place, looking around in wonder. She had been to Peru before, but it always seemed to have something new every time she went. People were walking around, laughing and talking, picking goods from the various kiosks. Lara had dressed in her tight blue sleeveless tank top and short brown shorts with her belt and attached holsters complete with her pistols. On her back was the brown backpack she used to carry her health kits, spare ammunition, and anything else that she found. To cover that up, and keep warm, she had an ornate hand woven shaw which was brown with colorful designs. It wasn't snowing to bad, but there was some snow on the ground and the wind would bring an occasional chill. Finally she saw another helicopter in the distance. "Must be him…" She whispered and walked over to the heliport. It landed, and a tanned, skinny man wearing a larger hiking backpack, a hat that looked like a mix between a cowboy hat and a sombrero, and a big brown jacket and poofy hiking pants. He looked in her direction and smiled. "Lara Croft?!" He called over the roar of the helicopter engine. She nodded, and they headed back toward the marketplace. "When they told me I was guiding a tomb raider, I expected something…well…" She smiled.

"Different?" She finished for him. He laughed.

"Sure, I guess that's the word I'm looking for." The pushed past some people in the market place and started the hike toward the mountain. It wasn't gigantic, but it was a pretty good sized mountain. "So, you ever rock climbed before?" He asked. She shrugged.

"Once or twice." She said, putting on her favorite round framed sunglasses. The reddish tint contrasted to her lightly tan skin nicely. "Ever been here in Peru before?" She nodded. "A couple times yes, I like to travel." He laughed.

"Me to, one time I was in this old temple near Mexico and I stepped on this stone that opened a door, but it was on a timer so I had to press it then sprint over before the door closed. It was cool." She smiled, wanting to keep her stories to herself as to not look like she was bragging. His voice was a little high and thick with the Latin American accent. As they reached the base of the mountain, it had begun to snow a little. "Now, when you climb without a harness you should remember to-" He stopped as Lara pulled herself up and began climbing the mountain. "Hey, I thought I was the guide!?" He yelled jokingly. After a few feet the mountain leveled off a bit, and they slowly hiked up the increasing incline. After about 20 yards they had to climb some more, and finally about halfway up it leveled off once more. Up ahead Lara could see two stone doors about as tall as her entire mansion. Above it were three odd symbols. "Wait, I've seen this before." She whispered. She pulled out some printouts she had made before heading out. She scanned them and found what she was looking for. There wasn't an explanation to the symbols, but they were discovered when explorers found the ancient City of Vilcabamba, created by ancient Peruvians. "Natla didn't tell me this Tomb of Qualopec was related to Vilcabamba." She said aloud.

"What?" Carlos asked her. She looked around, smiling. She took his rope and hook gun and fired it up to the door. It attached to an unseen ledge, and she tugged on it to make sure it was secure. "Hey wait, what are you doing?" Carlos yelled, following her to the bottom of the doors. She placed her feet on the stone and pushed up, then began ascending the giant structure. She could feel the air getting colder every few feet she went up. The snow had picked up a little, and it blew the hood of her shaw back. Her long brunette braid began blowing in the wind, like it was trying to get off of her head. Finally at the top, she was near the large symbol that was square in shaped, filled with vertical slants and designs, and toward the bottom was circular shape. She reached over and placed her hand on it, the pushed. It was stiff, but it slowly sunk in, making an indention. There was an enormous sound of stone scraping against stone, and the monstrous doors slowly opened. She looked down and saw Carlos peering in, taking a few timid steps forward. She smiled and started to go down when several sharp howls pierced the air. She looked down to see a pack of five wolves rushing toward Carlos. He had a thick wooden stick raised, but that would do no good. Lara gripped the rope and slid down, trying to ignore the pain caused from the rope burn. As she neared the bottom she pulled a knife from her boot and cut the rope and free fell a few feet.

She drew both of her pistols and began firing. She could hear wet gushing sounds as Carlos tried to scream in pain. She killed two of the wolves, and the other three turned their attention toward her. One rushed at her from the right, and she shot it twice in the face. The second came from her left, and it leaped up. She extended her leg, giving it a swift kick to the chest. It collapsed, unable to breathe. The third was quick, and pounced at her. He barely went over her as she stumbled back, firing several shots into its back. It fell down, squirming and howling in pain. It a so pathetic and such a sad sight. Lara turned away as she fired once more into the dying creature's skull.

She ejected the empty magazines and reloaded her pistols, then holstered them and ran over to Carlos' unmoving body. She could tell from the massive amounts of blood that he was already dead, but she knelt down and picked up his wrist, squeezing slightly for a pulse. There was nothing. She dropped it, then looked up at the massive structure again. The wind blew furiously, and Lara hugged herself. She walked forward, taking a few steps inside.

As she did, she heard an odd mechanical sound, and in a deafening boom the stone doors slammed closed. She took off her glasses and placed them in her backpack, then looked forward at the large path ahead of her. She raised an eyebrow, then smiled.


	2. Chapter 1: Caves

Chapter 1 Caves 

The expanse of the cave was rather wide, and a long path too. It extended deep into darkness. In the thin layer of snow on the ground she saw the prints of the wolves paws also going deep into the cavern. Lara exhaled, her breath puffing in front of her, and she began walking forward, the crunching of snow amplified in the quiet, immense cavern. Up ahead the cave took a jagged right.

She slowed to a stop. Carvings were on each side of the stone walls. She examined them from her standpoint. They showed the ancient Peruvians living everyday life. On each side it showed about four men with blow dart guns, spaced evenly to the end of the cave.

She took a closer look, and noticed the blow dart actually extended out from the wall. She took a step forward, but the sound of rushing wind stopped her. She jumped back as a poisonous dart collided with the wall, missing her by inches. This started a chain reaction, and the cavern was filled with the sound of the darts, each of the four guns shooting darts in a timed rhythm.

She waited and moved accordingly until she was safely pass the ancient trap. It looked like the cave came to a dead end, but up on the left were several rocks she could climb to continue further up. She vaulted up, gripping the rock tightly. At the top she brushed her knee's off and continued on down.

She heard several high pitched squeaks and drew a pistol. She saw coming out of the darkness the huge Vampire Bats. She fired several shots, hearing the wet splats as the bullets hit the large, flying mammals. She heard the lifeless bodies hit the ground, and stepped past them.

The cave continued forward roughly ten feet until it finally came to a drop off. The opening was made of carved ornate stone, covered in mossy green vegetation. At the bottom was a wooden switch protruding from the mouth of an unknown beast. Beside it was a dark onyx colored stone door. She grasped the switch with both hands and pulled downward.

The door opened with a hallowed stone scraping sound. Inside there was still a light snow on the ground. She heard several deep squeaks come from a dark corner in the room, and looked over to see two more bats swoop from their dark alcove. She ducked as they sped off into the cavern she had come from. In here, the rocks ascended to a whole in the ceiling in the far left corner, and to her right was a bamboo made door that was fairly large but unable to be opened.

She scaled up the rocks, using her altheticism to pull herself up onto the next level. Ahead was a winding path, the walls were all ancient and ornate. She ran her fingers along the carvings as she walked, admiring them. Finally the path opened up into a gigantic room, still covered in snow. There were two wooden bridges in this room connecting both sides together.

The one closest to her was broken, lying in several wooden piles at the bottom. At the very far end of the room was a lighted opening. Down below she saw a couple of the wild wolves laying on the ground, motionless aside from the slow rising and falling of their sides. Lara lowered herself down from the stone platform and landed with a muted thud onto the ground below.

She cast a worried glance in the wolf's direction, but it was still sleeping thankfully. She walked carefully past the first wolf and underneath the first bridge. She looked over and saw another smaller wolf sleeping as well, and at her stomach were three wolf pups. Behind them was the torso of a rotten mummy. She cringed her nose, but continued on to the next bridge.

It was way to high to jump up on, but some of the stones were broken away on the pillar of the bridge, and she used them as handholds to pull herself up. About halfway, one of the weaker stones broke away and she landed roughly on her bottom. She froze as she heard a growl from the dormant wolves. She stood up slowly and turned around.

The male wolf was now standing, its eyes locked on Lara. She stepped back until she was pressed against the bridge, and then slowly drew one of her pistols. It gave a menacing bark, and then darted toward her. She cried out and dove to the side as the wolf crashed into the pillar.

Lara fired several shots into the animal, and it fell down in dying spasms. Now the mother and her pups were awake. Lara ran back to the pillar and pulled herself up. She made it far enough up until the wolf couldn't reach her, but felt it nipping at her heals. The pups were howling out as she finally made it to the top. She looked down to see them starting shredding the remains of the male's body. It reminded her of how nature really worked.

She crossed the bridge and entered the doorway. Inside, thousands of snaky green tendrils of moss, vines, and vegetation hung from the ceiling. It was a real sight. She crouched down a bit to avoid being thwarted with the vegetation. At the end it cleared up, and there was a large triangular doorway. There were large steps going down, and they opened up the large room.

At the far end on a raised platform was a large set of stone double doors. She stepped down off the steps, taking in the piercing silence when suddenly another much larger wolf ran around from the corner and pounced on Lara. She fell back, and the creature's face was inches from hers, snapping and snarling vehemently. She quickly placed her foot in the animal's groin and vaulted it into the air, sending it flying behind her. She did a backward roll and was immediately on her feet. She sprinted over to the platform with the doors, jumping midway to grab the ledge.

She quickly pulled herself up onto the cold ledge and looked down to see the wolf still trying to regain its balance. She smiled, and turned to face the doors. They were very large, and covered in many ancient markings. At the bottom were three stone buttons, with unreadable inscriptions underneath. She pushed each of them in. The doors opened outward, slowly.

She took several steps back and breathed in the stale air of an unexplored area. She smiled and started up the dark path. It turned left with more stairs leading to the top. Halfway up she heard three consecutive clicks and then the stairway exploded in flying darts. She ducked down, raising her hands above her head. She darted up the remaining steps and dive rolled at the top.

She stood up, dusting herself off. She looked around. It looked like a dead end. She frowned, trying to take in every detail of the room. It raised up a little in the back, but as she neared it the floor crumbled and immediately broke away. She was only in the air a few seconds, and landed on her feet.

She stepped down of the bluish colored rocks and looked down over the edge of where she was standing. She was on the other side of the bamboo door she had admired earlier.

She slid down the angled wall and landed with a thud at the bottom. Opposite of the bamboo door was a long open pathway, which she could glimpse opened up into an expansive room. Above the archway was an ancient inscription that read

**_City of Vilcabamba_**

She smiled at her luck, and continued slowly down the darkened pathway.


	3. Chapter 2: City of Vilcabamba

Chapter 2

**City of Vilcabamba**

Lara walked cautiously into the wide, open space. There ancient stone pillars in here, with a pathway in the upper right corner and another larger area to her left.

She took a glance down the path and saw it was extremely dark, and decided to go with the open area. It was all made of white stone, with a large square pool in the center of the room. Ancient Peruvian carvings decorated the walls and sides of the prehistoric pool. In the far side of the room there was a large, almost ceremonial shaped archway, and at the end were two stone double doors.

She walked carefully down the path, eyeing the floor and ceiling with each step. She traced some lines on the door, smiling at how creative the elders were. On each side of the door was an ancient locking device in the shapes of a frowning skull. It was chipped and withered, but still looked like it could be used. The open mouths were where you used the key. "But first, I have to find it…" She whispered out loud, the sudden sound of her voice making her heart race faster. Aside from the occasional sound of birds or bats in the distance, the ancient tomb was quiet. It was entirely dark though, the center of the main chamber had an open ceiling, allowing crisp breezes and bright sunlight to flood the area, and several places beyond that. The stone lining the opening was built to reflect light, amplifying the sunlight that did get in. She turned and walked back toward the pool and knelt down, her braid sliding gently over her shoulder. She reached out and touched the water, which was surprisingly clear and a bit warm. A little colder than she preferred, but still unusually warm for an ancient tomb.

The water rippled, and the gentle sound of it as she moved her finger through it gave her a sense of relaxation. She smiled, taking in a deep breath as she looked at her reflection. And then it all happened so fast. She heard the deep, heavy footsteps first, then heard a deafening snarl. Then she saw the reflection of a gigantic brown bear behind her. It took a matter of seconds as she quickly side rolled, drawing one of her pistols. The bear dropped down from its stance on walking on two legs, and began to bound after her. She fired three shots before it reached her and she crouched, then sprung backward in a not to graceful backflip, and landed crooked on her feet. She drew her other gun and fired several more shots into the already slowing and bleeding grizzly.

It leapt forward, two of its enormous paws extended, and it took a chunk of the stone ledge off as soon as she hopped back. It tried feebly to climb up after her, but the shots were taking their toll. She fired once more into the bear's head to stop its slow suffering. She holstered her smoking weapons and stepped past the animal carcass to explore where it had came. It was a small, enclosed area with straw matted to the floor. The full skeletons of several wolves were lying near the straw, and over in the corner was a half rotted corpse of a slightly newer meal.

Lara cringed her nose and stepped out. On the wall to the right of the archway was a darker granite colored stone door, and beside it was a wooden switch. She walked over to it and pulled down on the switch, which broke off. The door opened however, and she stepped inside. In here there was a rack for hanging the skins of animals and a fire pit. There were also several rocks leading up to another doorway. She climbed up them, taking her time so she wouldn't crumble the rocks. At the top there was a short hop over into another room. The fall wasn't to far if she missed, but the thought of limping through the rest of this didn't appeal to her. She sucked in her breath and hopped over. Her foot slipped, but she caught herself with her elbow. She pulled up and examined the new room. It looked completely bare, and wasn't to large width wise.

She stepped down onto a slightly lower platform, but it crumbled and toppled Lara into the room. She looked up, slightly panicked. There was no way she could reach the opening again. She looked around the bare room once more, taking in all of the details. At the opposite end, a section of the wall looked different from the rest. She walked over to it and ran her hand along it, trying to hit a hidden switch. Nothing happened. She reared back and kicked it several times. Cracks raced along this section now, and she smiled. She kicked it several more times, and it crumbled away. There was a completely dark passage up ahead. She slid a strap off her backpack so she could access it, and then opened it up. Aside from some heath supplies and extra magazines for her pistols, it was almost empty. She felt some of the pockets, and found what she was looking for.

A tin container used to hold flares. This wasn't a new pack, but hopefully there were some left. She opened it up and was surprised to see five left. She pulled one out and replaced the container back into her backpack then put her backpack back on her back. This was the type of flare that when you pulled the top off, it struck against the hard wick and caused it to spark up. The light was good for about twenty feet. Her preferred source of light in tombs. She pulled quickly on the end, and it lit up in a blinding red hue colored light. The flare made a slight fuzzy sizzling sound as it lit up quite a bit of space. She walked down the path, and frowned as it came to a dead end. Frustrated, she leaned against the dead end wall to think. It moved slightly.

She jumped away, waiting to see if she had cause some sort of trap in motion. After a few moments of silence, she walked back over to the wall and placed her shoulder against it and applied some pressure. It moved a little more. She pushed harder, and the wall kept moving back. Finally, it opened up a new room. The stuffy heat cause from the flare had started to give Lara a headache, but as soon as the stone block revealed a new room cold air hit her in the face. She breathed it in. This opened up to a closed in area. Ahead was a sort of second floor, and underneath the second floor was a darkened area lined with dusty and broken golden jugs. She had to lean her head down as she went underneath the ledge. Set in ceremonial stone were two relatively small items- a silver key with the shape of a skull on the end and a flat golden idol about the size of her hand.

The idol was covered in sacred etchings and had the face of an ancient Incan. It was relatively heavily and beautifully decorated in old carvings. She pulled both items out and examined then before putting them into her backpack. She heard several loud squeaks come from above, followed by the heavy flapping of the wings. Two Vampire bats came swooping down from a dark alcove. Lara jumped and pulled herself up onto the second floor ledge and balled her fist and swiped at the bat aimed at her head. She heard a crunch has her hand connected with the smooth, furry body of the animal. There was some clay pottery bowls next to a wooden framed straw bed in the corner beside a rectangular opening that allowed light from the main chamber in.

Lara vaulted up and lowered herself down before dropping and landing in a crouch position. Back in the main chamber she walked over to the stone doors and used the Skull Key in one of the locks. One of the stone doors opened slowly, and Lara craned her neck to peer inside. As soon as the door was opened enough she heard quick, light footsteps. Before she could react properly a wolf was lunging toward her. She fell back into a backward roll, catching the wolf with her foot and sending it flying into the air behind her. She sprung back up, drawing her pistols. The animal was still getting up, and she pumped several bullets into its head. After several sprays of crimson the wolf settled into its final resting place. Lara brushed a lock of her brunette hair from her forehead and tucked it behind her ear. She holstered her weapons and walked back toward the open door. In the far distance she could see a massive stone structure covered in mossy green vines.

The short path leading to the opening was lined with blow dart traps. She leaned back then propelled herself forward. She heard something click, triggering the trap. The short hallway was suddenly filled with the sound of the darts being blown out and hitting the wall. As soon as she landed she fell into an army style crawl and finished the short hallway. At the end she stood up and brushed off her top and legs and tightened her black, fingerless leather gloves.

Ahead was an ancient structure hidden in a light mist and shadows. Incan pillars and spiked skulls were at the base of the building. She walked forward carefully, eyeing around the building. There were 3 openings, two on the left and right and in the middle was a larger door, decorated in gold pictograms. It was closed and sealed. Lara decided to take the open doorway on the left. After a short, winding hallway it opened up into a massive room, with ledges leading up to the highest part of the building. In front of her was a pool filled with murky, green tinted water.

She stepped up to the first ledge, and it held easily. If she took a running jump she would land on the ledge opposite her and the room. She reared back and took several sprinting steps then sprang forward. On leg slipped, but she landed firmly. She saw that this ledge was cracked and ready to crumble. She pulled herself up on the ledge that was even with her head. Now there was one more ledge above her that led to an open doorway. She crouched down then jumped up, one hand catching the ledge. She pulled up a little and grabbed on with her other hand then pulled herself up. As she was brushing off, she heard a low rumble coming from the doorway. She peered inside, and was then suddenly knocked backward by a giant black cloud of Vampire Bats. Her heel teetered dangerously on the edge as she hit and swiped at the bloodthirsty mammals. Finally, the cloud cleared. She adjusted her backpack and brushed some stray locks of hair behind her ear.

"Miss Jacqueline better be damned happy when I find this relic…" Lara grumbled before continuing on down the hallway. Up here was an oddly pattern room, with splashes of red and orange colors on the wall. In front of her was a switch that looked like it was made of bone and set into some weird mechanism on the wall. She had to use both hands to activate the lever, and heard a dull sound of scraping stone somewhere below. Opposite the way she came in was a doorway. She stepped out onto it and saw she was on a balcony on the top of the building, overlooking the walkway that lead in to this area. She took in the view for a little, then started carefully climbing down the rock wall next to the building. She smiled about halfway, getting a rush of excitement.

This is what she loved doing, being alone and isolated from humanity in search of something worth millions that hasn't been seen for centuries. Which reminded her, Natla never really named the artifact she was looking for, except that it had "mystical powers" and buried in Qualopec's tomb somewhere underneath this city. She dropped the last few feet, landing roughly on her feet. Back down here, the door to the right of the middle one was now open. She smiled and headed through it. In here was a gigantic square opening with a lever at the very bottom. She looked around and saw no handholds or anything she could use to climb down. Across the pit was a switch on the wall, with no platform or ledge above it. The puzzle was simple, jump across the pit and grab the lever, which will fill the pit with water so she can climb down and pull the lever to open the large double doors in the middle of the building. Unless there was a hidden "real" switch somewhere else and this was a fake. Deciding against the not to favorable odds, she jumped forward and grabbed onto the two handholds of the lever. It slid downward-

-and an icy waterfall fell from the ceiling. She felt her grip lessen immediately. She faced her head toward the ground, realizing that the water was coming from the slowly melting Peruvian snow on the mountain.

"_Those tricky ancient Inca's…"_ Lara thought grimly. Finally the water caused her grip to go entirely, and she fell into the filling pool. It was filled enough, however, to stop any additional harm. She gripped the lever down here and pulled it, then heard a huge mechanism move inside the mountain. After waiting in the cold water keeping her head afloat, the water was high enough to climb out. She shivered once, but continued on. Back out in the main area, she saw the third and middle door was open. Inside was a hallway and at the end she could see another wall switch. She stepped inside-

-and had to spring backward to stop from being sliced in half from a giant pendulum that swung down from a hidden hinge on the ceiling. This started a chain reaction, and two more spaced evenly down the hallway began swinging, each one making a rhythmic _swoosh_ sound. After careful observation, she made timed leaps across them, making it safely to the other side. Here was a bamboo gate and beside it, a switch. She pulled it and the gate creaked open. In here were pillars made of marble and ivory, with an elegant pool in the middle. Raised up on some steps was a door with a carving of the gold Idol on it, and beside it was an indention to place it there. She removed it from her backpack and stuck it in place with a resounding snap. The door opened, and she could hear a waterfall in the distance. The air also had the smell of grass and was more humid than the stale air of this catacomb. She continued on.


	4. Chapter 3: The Lost Valley

Chapter 3

**Lost Valley**

The passageway was winding, with the rocks seemingly aging as she went along. The sound of a waterfall was also getting closer, and the air grew more humid. Finally at the opening, she saw a rushing stream in front of her and directly to her right was a massive waterfall, shooting thousands of gallons of water into a pool that continued as a stream underground.

Lying leisurely around the pool were several of the gray wolves. She tightened the band on her braid and made sure her pistols were secure, then jumped in a swan dive position the 70-foot drop into the warm water below. She landed with a small splash, and came up smiling. She crawled out as far away from the wolves as she could and exited the small cavern through a crevice opposite the waterfall. In here the cave got gloomy and misty. There were a few feet of rock to climb, and after she cleared it she saw in the distance several prehistoric looking trees.

"_Wait…what?!"_

She stood for a moment, puzzled. She ventured further, more carefully. Slowly, a prehistoric, Jurassic valley unveiled itself to her. The sky was crystal blue, with puffy white clouds sparse but dense in the blue canvas.

A low, hot mist floated around the dark green vegetation that covered the valley floor. Unknown sounds hung in the air, made by animals never seen before. She could hear more waterfalls, the sound of water crashing very prominent. Different types of odd shaped trees covered in thick, rope-like vines blocked her view of far ahead. She could see large bugs flying around and scattering across the thick undergrowth and bright, exotic, florescent colored flowers. She stood in awe at this lost valley.

This was all hidden behind or underneath a city made into a Peruvian mountain and had never been found before? She found it hard to believe, and knew that once she made it out of here she would be placed high in the tabloids. She kept her hands resting on the handles of her pistols and walked nervously into the unknown terrain.

From somewhere close, she heard a high-pitched, piercing scream. She jerked her head to the left to see a blur of red run out from some rocks. It stopped to scream again, and Lara froze, paralyzed with fear. It was a scaly red Velociraptor. It stood about 4 foot high, larger than normal raptors, with the large, single black claw on each hind leg reared and ready to catch prey. Its long, upturned snout was twisted into an evil death snarl. Lara slowly pulled her pistols from the holsters, knowing any quick movements would cause it to attack. She raised them slowly-

-and the prehistoric beast came bounding at her with lighting speed, screaming an unearthly howl. She dove sideways, firing several shots, most of them going wide. The dinosaur ran and jutted his hard skull into her hip, flinging her harshly to the ground. She cried out, then turn and kick at the things face, connecting her boot several times with its face.

The raptor shook its head and snorted, and Lara fired from one pistol the last rounds in the magazine. Blood spurted in dark red squirts. She gritted her teeth and heard her own voice bubble up in a growl as she kept firing with the other pistol. Finally, after spasms of pain and poor attempts with its dewclaw, the red raptor fell to the ground, dead.

Lara stood up, wincing several times. She pulled up her tight green tank top to examine where she got the blow. It was already turning colors, but didn't hurt too much to touch. Her ankle ached however. She ejected the magazines from her pistols and pulled two more from the pouch on the side of her backpack to reload. She re-holstered them and stepped out of the crevice the raptor had pushed her in and continued on into the Lost Valley.

It was a place straight from _Jurassic Park_, with every element from a prehistoric world present. Up ahead the valley widened, and she could see a magnificent waterfall ahead. But she stopped, her view taken to the ground. She was standing _completely_ in a single foot imprint.

"_I really hope that thing is dead…"_

She thought nervously. She looked up and ahead and saw an old wooden bridge stretching from one rock formation to another. As she marveled at the architecture, she felt the ground rumble slightly. But unlike the movies, there wasn't time for suspense to build. In a matter of seconds the rumbling grew in frightening intensity, and around the rock corner of the valley several feet ahead, a gigantic monster stepped out, blocking out the sun. It roared, the force and wind nearly knocking her off balance. It was a enormous Tyrannosaurus Rex. Its skull was at least 5 foot long, with its length about 45 foot and its height about 20 foot.

Lara was completely paralyzed, frozen with genuine terror. But she kept her game face on, raising on eyebrow in question and then pulled her newly reloaded pistols and open fired into the monstrous lizard. It looked down, as if just now noticing her. She took off sprinting to the left into a dark cavern concealed by several prickly bushes.

The T-rex bounded toward her, its footsteps deafening. It stuck its snout near the opening, and Lara once again open fired. Little wounds opened up, looking like needle pricks on human skin. It turned sideways, and Lara saw a once in a lifetime opportunity. She holstered her guns quickly and ran up the lizard's tail, slipping on the dry, scaly skin. Once she was close enough to its head, she took hold of a lump on its back and put her a pistol as close as she could to its head and emptied the rest of the clip in it.

It roared and threw its head back and Lara was vaulted into the air. The monsters head hook onto the bridge she had been admiring early and broke it in half with a single snapping sound. She tried as hard as she could to land on her feet or bottom, and ended up with a combination of the two. Never the less, she was on her feet and had her second gun drawn and fired at the T-rex.

Finally, it seemed the shots started to take effect. She noticed as she reloaded and the creature turned, one of its eyes was gone. She fired several more shots, and the thing fell down, crashing into the rock wall before settling into a dark place to die. The valley was again thrown into the tranquil sound of something from an exotic paradise.

She noticed several droplets of blood on her leg from minute cuts and a single tear along the waistband of her brown shorts. She looked up and saw that the bridge had been broken in half, with one part of it hanging down against the rock, creating a makeshift ladder. She walked over to it, stepping over the T-rex's tail, and tugged on it a little.

The thick vines used to secure the wood to the rock held. She climbed up, and pretty soon was at the top with no problems. Up here was an indention in the rock, and inside was a cogwheel just a little bigger than her palm and made of bones tied together.

She stuck it in her backpack and climbed back down the bridge. She rounded the corner the Rex came from, and saw in the distance the silhouette of a building. She proceeded with caution, and slowly an ancient stone building came into view. It had a structure similar to the White House, only smaller.

The pillars holding the front of the structure looked old and ready to fall, and there were several jagged windows near the top. Stone steps had been built to get up to the entrance. The stone was covered in a layer of green vegetation, and large exotic colored butterflies were resting leisurely on it. Lara instantly wish she had a camera of some sort, but shrugged the thought away and stepped up to the building. Inside was amazing, with two small waterfalls in the back of the single stone room, with decorative carvings on the walls. She went over to the square pool that the waterfalls emptied into and took off her glove to stick her hand inside the water. It was really warm.

A small smile crept onto her mouth. She opened her eyes and saw that off to one side the pool continued on. She unholstered her pistols and took off her backpack and set them on the edge and put back on her glove and slid into the water. She found she could keep her eyes open easily. She propelled herself forward in the clear liquid and found that a darkened path winded behind the waterfalls. Here she could surface into a tiny opening and a small ledge.

Sitting on it was another cogwheel underneath a broken machine, probably used to stop the water. She picked it up and swam back into the main area of the temple and climbed out.

Her wet braid clung to her back as she wiped the cog on the bottom of her shorts, then placed it in her backpack with the other one. She gathered her equipment began to leave the temple, but was halted by the screams of several raptors. She immediately drew her weapons and aimed them forward, keeping her eyes peeled. She heard the quick footsteps come up from a dark corner to the right outside the temple, and hopped back as a raptor crashed into one of the crumbling pillars.

The whole building shook and the pillar collapsed to the side, knocking into the other ones. She holstered her weapons and sprinted forward, jumping into a dive roll as the temple collapsed in a cloud of dust and deafening crash. She jumped up on her feet and began firing at the raptors that circled her, three in all. She fired as quickly as her fingers would allow, the silver pistols jumping lightly in each of her hands. One raptor went down, and the other two cried out as it fell to the ground.

They ran over to it and began to eat on it, pulling thick strips of blood rich meat off of the dead carnivore. Lara holstered her guns and began running back toward the entrance to the lost valley, still amazed at the prehistoric beasts that occupied it and wondering how in the world they were there and was _still_ there after millions of years. She decided she had checked upstream from the first waterfall she had come to after leaving the City of Vilcabamba. She climbed back over the rocks and saw that the wolves that had been there before were now gone.

She saw some rocks stacked up to the left of the waterfall she could use to climb back up. She shivered once from her dip earlier in the temple and made her way back up the rocks. The rushing water got louder, and she saw up ahead a gigantic contraption spinning around. It was at least several stories, and looked like giant versions of the cogwheels she carried in her backpack. They were spinning from the larger waterfall spinning the biggest one. It wasn't working properly though, cause on each level of the puzzle was a smaller place for a cog. She smiled, and treaded carefully up the stream on rocks protruding from the surface of the rushing stream.

She saw a gate that was closed, allowing the water to flow freely. If she could open it, which is probably what the cog machine was used for, then she could stop the waterfall downstream. The first cog turning was made of wood and tied together with vines. She waited until it one of the sticks spun around and grabbed onto it.

Spinning just like on a Ferris Wheel, she held on with both hands as the water moved the giant cog around. As she neared the first ledge, she began moving herself and swinging like a gymnast on steel poles and finally got one revolution and let go, landing haphazardly on the ledge. She stood up and brushed her knees off, then reached inside her backpack and pulled out one of the cogs and placed it into the mechanism. One of the notches from the larger cog caught onto it, and it began spinning, starting a chain reaction of several more.

On a level high than the one she was on now, the last cog would have to be put into place. The wall had breaks in it, and she used them as handholds to scale the wall upward and to the right, pulling herself up on the ledge. Here she inserted the last cog, and the entire puzzle began moving. She heard from deep within the mountain something moving, and the gate opened, allowing the flowing water to go somewhere else.

Lara smiled and dusted her hands off, then made her way back down to the rocks where the wolves had been. Just like she had thought, the water had stopped and now only the pool remained. She dived from the top of the rocks into the water below, and surfaced just as gracefully. She looked over to where the waterfall had been, and saw a perfectly squared shaped opening. A low breeze made a whistling sound from deep within.

Lara waded over and pulled herself up and lit up a flare, nervous and excited about this area, which had probably never had another human being inside for hundreds of years. This must be what Natla had said would be here, the ancient Tomb of Qualopec.


	5. Chapter 4: Tomb of Qualopec

Chapter 4

**Tomb of Qualopec**

The rock walls began to turn smoother and have more color. Finally it opened up into a magnificent room. There were four doorways, one ahead, one to the left, one to the right, and one she was in. Giant stone columns were in each corner of the room, contrasting against the vibrant orange and red stone walls of the ancient tomb.

"_Qualopec went all out huh…?"_

She thought, smiling at the well-crafted room. The floor, which was made of patterned stone plates, were done in the same colors as the wall, creating a dizzying effect. Three gates blocked the doorway to the left, each with a symbol on it that matched the three on the outside of the huge doors leading to the caves. She traced a few lines on the first gate, then turned and checked the doorway opposite the one she entered the room through. There was another mesh gate at the top of a ramp. The doorway to the right was the only clearly open one, and she opted to try it out first. Through here, there were three more passages to go through, with each symbol above each passageway.

"_They must have some symbolic or ritualistic meaning to Qualopec…"_

She thought, glancing at each of the red outlines. She decided to try the one ahead, with the birdlike carving above it. She'd save the Incan face looking carving and the one with the slanted designs for next. In here the walls changed to a more traditional tomb-like stone, with hundreds of ceremonial carvings. More stone columns were in here, but these had faces carved into them. It was also considerable darker, and she lit a flare to see. A switch was made into a small alcove in the wall.

"_Ah, this should clear one of those gates for me…"_

She thought smiling. She stepped into the alcove-

-and the floor suddenly gave away. She grabbed onto the handle of the switch, but it broke away. A trap! She landed hard after falling several feet. She fell into a pile of some old wood that snapped as her weight crushed it. She looked around and noticed several peculiar pieces. By her hand was a round piece, and she picked it up. Her eyes widened and she dropped it. This wasn't wood, it was human remains! She stood up quickly, dusting the old bones from her cloths and skin. A deep, throaty growl came from behind her, and she froze. She moved her eyes as much as she could, trying to get her peripherals to work in the dim chamber. She then heard a raspy howl and the sound of claws on the floor, and dove to the side.

As she did, a wolf crashed into the wall, followed by another one. She raised her pistols and open fired, sending the savage beasts into retreat. Once they were cornered, she finished them off with several more shots. She reacquired her flare and glanced around the pit she had fallen in. The opening was way too far to reach on her own, so she needed to find a way to get back up there and explore the rest of the area. She looked around and saw that, almost like a grand staircase, there were two ramps on each side of the room, the only problem was they didn't lead anywhere, just to a platform and back around to where she was standing.

The walls were covered in some ancient text, which she could barely make out. She walked to the top of the ramp, eyeing the ceiling and floor closely. Another unexpected fall like that and she might end up breaking something. At the top of the level ledge, she looked around at the wall. There wasn't really anything different to the rest of the wall…except…There was a crack near the ceiling of one section of the wall, and on the other side was another one. It looked deliberate.

She pushed on the middle of this section, and she felt a little give. She smiled, and gave it a swift side kick, her boot making a deep cracking sound in the tiny, dark chamber, with her flare giving her the most of the little light that was down here. She kicked the weak part of the wall several more times, then kicked her flare into the tiny alcove that was revealed. In here was another switch. She reached in without stepping inside and pulled it, then jumped back with her guns drawn.

She heard the sound of metal opening somewhere else and then the sound of stone behind her. She turned and saw a platform rise up from a hidden latch on the floor. She smiled and returned up back into the 3-branched hallway and went through the one that had the slanted designs symbol above it. This passageway didn't go too far, and it dead-ended with nothing along the way. Lara frowned, taking in more of the details. The wall was the same as the last chamber, covered in different designs and ancient text, but she noticed one part of the wall jutted out a little and had the matching symbol of this passageway.

She kicked it, but found by a sharp pain that shot through her leg that it was very solid. She cursed under her breath, and knelt down to examine it for hidden latches. No such luck. This was the times that tomb raiding got frustrating. She enjoyed the thrill of dodging traps and finding the artifacts rather than trying to figure out how to move a wall… Then she noticed the symbol designs also protruded from the wall a little. She traced them lightly with her fingers-

-and the door swung open slowly on hidden hinges. She drew a pistol, looking around. It only opened into a short hallway with a switch in the back of the room. She holstered her gun and started across the floor. Halfway however, she felt the floor rock and start to crumble. Before she could react it broke away and she had just enough time to grab the ledge with one hand. She emitted a loud grunt as she landed roughly with four fingers griping the crumbling stone. She reached with her other hand and grabbed a flare, striking it on the wall. She looked down into the pit and saw that the floor was covered in old, sharp wooden spikes. The bones of some unidentifiable animals were scattered across the bottom of the spike pit. She tossed her flare up then hoisted herself up, brushing off her knees. She pulled the switch, and heard the metal scraping sound again.

"_Two down, one to go…"_

She thought with a smirk. She carefully hopped over the spike pit and returned to the 3-branched hallway and took the final passageway. This was the largest room yet, with an incredibly high ceiling and two pillars in each corner of the room. At the opposite end was a fairly large opening with spikes at the bottom. The stone walls had faded a little, but were still unusually bright orange and gray. There was a single switch to her right, and she pulled it.

One of the massive stone pillars shifted across the floor from the corner it was in to the opening in front of Lara. She stepped out onto it, then did a running jump over to the other pillar that had shifted, then she hopped over to the opening and pulled the switch in here. This opened the third and final gate blocking the other passageway. She jumped down over the spikes and landed on the floor, sprinted across and vaulted back up to the 3-branched passageway.

She ran back into the main area of the tomb and took the newly opened passage. It turned right, opening up into a grand staircase. It was lined with giant stone warriors, carved from ancient stone. Along the base of the staircase were evenly spaced tubes, no doubt another dart trap. She timed her runs and jumps up the top of the staircase.

The next room opened up in the grandest of ways. The beautiful floor carvings opened up, engulfing a pedestal in the middle of the room. Leading up a short set of stairs opposite the pedestal was a grand throne, and on it was the rotted skeleton of a long ago ruler. Lara saw two mummified corpses on either side of the throne. They were easily nine feet tall, and extremely lean. The eerie tomb cast odd shadows, the steady quietness swallowing her in a vast sense of detachment from the modern world. She turned her attention to the slight glow on the pedestal. Set in a mythical, sparkling holder hovering over the stone monument was a circular item, made from gold. It was rotating slightly, and seemed to be missing some inner parts. Lara reached out and grasped it, pulling it away from the orb of light. A low rumbled shook the tomb, then in an instant everything started to move.

The wall and floor cracked open, and several pieces of stone tiles broke away from the ceiling. Lara jumped to the side, keeping a piece of the relic in her grasp. The rock hit the ground with such intensity that several stone shards exploded, flying across the room. She shielded her face and saw the Golden Gate across the room open. She stuffed the artifact into her backpack and then sprinted across the floor, hopping to the side as more debris fell from the ceiling. As she was running down the ramp, she heard a steady, low rumbling from behind. She glanced back and saw a giant, jagged stone boulder rolling down the ramp after her. It crashed into the wall, sending more of the ancient tomb wall flying. She did a diving roll as she entered the main room of the tomb and started toward the opening leading back to the waterfall and entrance to the Lost Valley.

A thundering boom caused her to stumble, and the entire roof collapsed. She pushed her legs harder, and came into a flying jump and into a roll, crashing against the stone wall opposite the entrance. The boulder stopped, and after a giant crash, the area went quiet again. She stood up, brushing the brown locks of hair away from her face, fixing her belt and holsters. She checked her pistols, then hiked back through the pathway back to the pool of water. She knelt down and cupped some water, then brought it to her lips. She was dying of thirst. She smiled, then wiped her lips. A gunshot rung out, and a piece of the rock beside her exploded. She dove into the water, and came out behind some rocks and drew her pistols.

"Well, you have my total attention now." She said annoyed, remembering their conversation from India.

"I thought archeologist were supposed to preserve the ancient tombs of the world, not destroy them." Came the thick accent of Larson Conway.

"You forget, I'm the tomb raider." She replied "We sometimes get trigger happy after finding lost relics."

"What kinda relics Miss Croft?" He asked with much curiosity.

"Why should you care? I'm only working." She said, keeping her pistols in a tight grip.

"Same here." Said Larson coldly.

"And why does Jacqueline need this round piece of medal?"

"You mean that dribblin piece of the Scion?"

"Yeah. Where's the rest?" She asked.

"Miss Natla put Pierre DuPont on that trail." He said.

Lara sneaked past the rocks and made her way closer to Larson.

"And where is that?" She asked.

"HA! You aint fast enough fer him." Lara frowned, then stood up and fired at him. "So _you _think all this talking is just holding me up?" He howled in pain, then clutched his arm.

"You shot me!" He called out.

"It's only a graze. You'll live cowboy." Lara replied casually.

"I don't know where his jack rabbit frog legs are runnin' him to! You'll have to ask Miss Natla…" Lara smiled, then jumped out and low kicked him, then uppercutted his jaw.

"Thank you, I will…" She replied. She knelt down and felt through his pockets, and came up with a business card, with the address to Natla Technologies.


	6. Chapter 5: St Francis' Folly

Chapter 5

**St. Francis' Folly**

The city was bustling with life. Downtown Los Angeles, one of the largest cities in California, was just as active during the night as it was during the day. Lara stood motionless on the top of an elevator shaft at Natla Technologies. The city was drenched in the nighttime lights and harsh shadows. Lara had left Peru and arrived in the United States in record time, just stopping at her house to run her adventuring outfit through the wash, reload and clean her weapons, eat, and get some sleep.

She drew one of her pistols and aimed it at the steel ring connecting the thick metal rod wire to the shaft. She shot it once, and the elevator lurched downward. She adjusted her sunglasses and smiled, then shot it once more. Immediately she was flying through the air, her stomach becoming weightless. She looked up, the wind tossing her hair around. She gripped the wire, her fingerless gloves giving her added grip. As she neared the top, she lessened her grip until it left her hand completely. She hovered in the air for a split second, then landed in a crouched position in from of the gigantic Natla Technologies neon sign on top of the building.

She holstered her gun and looked around, spotting a glass skylight. She stomped it, and the glass shattered. She dropped down and kept low. She was in Natla's office. She looked around, spotting her desk and a laptop. She opened it up, and the screen light up with a prompt to either click Larson's name or Pierre's. She picked up with tiny remote and clicked Larson. A video came up of her walking down toward the main room of Qualopec's tomb. "Well, looks like yer girl found it. Lucky her, she pulled it off." Came Larson's voice. The video shifted to a close-up of his face.

"But, how do you know she won't just return ole' Qualopec's piece back to you?"

"Because," came Natla's smooth, cold tone, "she's far to obsessed with it, like her father."

The video ended. Lara frowned, then clicked Pierre's name. A video came up of an old folly, somewhere in Greece. "You have something to report monsieur DuPont?" asked Natla.

"Yes madam, I have found the location of my piece of the Scion, underneath a place called-" Lara stopped the video. "St. Francis Folly…" She whispered, touching the screen. She opened one of the drawers, and came up with a dark red book. She opened to the bookmarked spot and started to read.

"_Relocated now to St. Francis Folly, new temptations torment me. Rumors amongst my fellow brothers is that entombed beneath our monastery is the body of Tihocan, one of the three legendary rulers of the Lost City, Atlantis, and that with him lies his piece of the Atlantean Scion, an artifact that wields tremendous powers beyond the creator himself. My toes sweat at such possibilities, a relic of such immense power lying so close to my mortal soul. At night, I lay awake in agony, trying to beat myself rid of these fantasies, but it is indeed a test…"_

Lara pulled out her piece of this artifact, called the Scion and looked at it, smiling.

"This is it Natla, I can play dirty to…" She whispered.

Lara pulled herself up the last ledge of the mountain. She stood up, eyeing the Greece landscape, then focused her attention to the monastery in front of her. It was incredibly old, and with it being perched on a mountaintop no one had probably been inside for centuries. Except for Pierre. Lara and him had never met up close, but he was a rival archeologist, and pursued fame and fortune for his finds, while Lara was in it for the thrill and the love of tomb raiding. A small, smoldering campfire was smoking near the entrance, with several empty cans of beans littering the ground. She raised an eyebrow, then her upper lip in disgust.

"Oh Pierre, you litterbug…" She said, then stepped past the campsite and stood for a moment by the doors, then sucked in a deep breath and pulled the doors open. Inside was rather bright, with the evening sunlight splashing the sky in colors of orange and purple. The ceiling was gone, with only a few arched rafters still up there. Several columns lined the large room, and aside from them the area was pretty empty. Except for the middle of the room, which had a circular indention. She stepped closer toward it-

-and stopped as the deep, throaty growl of a large cat pierced the silence. She stopped, then turned slowly, keeping both hands on her pistols. Behind her were two large feral lions, both slender and female. They were eyeing her sharply, both ready to pounce. The one on the right suddenly leapt for her, and she dived back, pulling out her pistol and firing several shots into the animal before landing. The other one rushed at her, and she moved to the side as it clawed at a pillar. She pulled out her other gun and with both of them fired two shot simultaneously to kill the second lion.

"I suppose your more of a dog person…" Lara looked around as the voice, thick with a French accent, floated to her ears.

"Natla doesn't honor her contracts Pierre, I'd move on if I were you." She said, raising both her guns.

"No mademoiselle, Natla and I…_understand _each other. I find things for her, and she rewards me handsomely. But you seek the very thing she does. That is why you are not trusted."

Lara walked slowly, keeping her back against one of the pillars and her eyes moving.

"I trust my instincts." She said, keeping her pistols trained ahead, and moving slowly.

"And that is why you are in second place. I am a professional Mademoiselle. I focus on the job, and I get paid." He said proudly. Lara frowned, furrowing her eyebrows.

"There's more to life than money Pierre…" She said, looking around the pillars. Where on earth was he?

"This isn't life Lara, it's business! Your compulsion prevents you from seeing the difference."

Lara took several steps back, toward the middle of the room, and moved her pistols around slowly.

"It hasn't prevented me from getting a piece of the Scion, how's business for you?" She asked in a mock tone.

"Touché, so then why don't we see whose compulsion gets them the next piece?" Pierre asked annoyed. Lara half smiled, keeping her guns aimed. Footsteps resounded throughout the Grecian monastery, followed by an unseen door opening and closing. She holstered her guns, then looked overhead. There was an iron grating blocking the door, and below that was a big set of green metal double doors. She stood for a moment, tightening her gloves, then started to inspect the pillars. Some of them had large cracks in them in different places. Obviously unsteady, but maybe a way to traverse the room to the upper doorway. She walked over to one of the shorter ones and took hold of the crack, getting a grip. She pulled her self up, reaching for another crack higher up, placing her feet where her hands had been.

"_Almost like rock climbing, without the mountain…"_

She thought, pulling herself on top of the pillar. Most of the other ones were still touching where the ceiling had once been. She saw several more cracks in a pillar ahead, and took a running jump at it. She grabbed it with one hand, fumbling for a moment before regaining her grip with both hands. Suddenly a series of crunching sounds filled the room, and the column started to leaned opposite the alcove she wanted to jump to. She had to make a lateral jump to reach the alcove, and the column crashed into the wall, breaking into hundreds of old, stone pieces. Here she could make a jump over to the iron grating.

She did so, then looked inside the chamber. All she could see was a big brass globe fixed onto a pedestal. She knelt down and slipped her fingers under the iron grating, then lifted it up. With some effort, she got it to slide and stay open. She exhaled slowly, then rolled the ball from its resting-place and off onto the ground below. With a thundering boom it hit the stone floor, then rolled toward the indention in the middle of the folly. As it compressed it, the iron doors below her opened up. She lowered herself off the ledge, then dropped to the ground. She peered into the open doorway before starting down the large, stone spiral staircase.

The walls were covered in lush green vines, intertwining with the architecture. She was deep into studying the walls that she almost plummeted off the ledge she had come to. She looked down, and for the first time felt her stomach twist in a way she had never felt before. There was no way to describe what this catacomb looked like. Partially cause she had never seen anything like it before and partially because the drop was so far her line of sight almost failed her. In the middle of the gigantic room was a broken, twisting structure. On the left and right walls were two switches with two unlit torches on either side of them. She peered down again and looked around. To the left and on down the room on the left wall was an old iron door with a big metal plate overtop of it, and carved in gold was the name _Atlas_, the Greek god of strength.

On the right wall across the structure a little above the _Atlas _room was another door, built to look the same, only the plate had _Hephaestus_, Greek god of lightning and craftsmanship. Lara was usually very fond of heights, but not surprised at the extreme feeling of vertigo she got when she realized to traverse this room she would have to climb up and down the structure in the middle of the room. She did a running jump to the central broken structure, drawing a pistol to the sound of flapping. She turned and saw several giant bats coming toward her. She fired off several shots, sending them to the bottom. Then she made a running jump to the vines ensnared near the ledge of a switch. She pulled herself up, then pulled down on the heavy switch with both hands.

She heard the sound of a door opening, and turned to see it was _Atlas. _Here Lara jumped back to the middle, then vaulted down to the next ledge and was now eye level with the _Atlas_ door and one level above the _Hephaestus _room. The walkway to this room hadn't been destroyed by time yet, giving her easy access. This corridor was dark and turned left. Here was a metal door in front of her and a switch on the right wall. She pulled it, and the door rattled open. Set in the little doorway dozens of Greek spears retract back into the wall. She ran through, and the door slammed close and the spears came back out.

The corridor turned right, and she was faced with an odd lever that rotated with two handles. Across from that was a pit and up from the pit was a gigantic stone ramp, and at the top was the main attraction of the puzzle room. A huge statue of Atlas was on top of a small chamber, holding a giant, flaming brass globe on his back. Lara walked around the lever with a handle in hand, slowly creating a stone walkway across the pit. As soon as she let go the two stone slabs started to retract. She hurried across, wiping sweat of her brow.

"_The Greeks sure knew how to give a girl a workout…"_

She thought, stopping as she neared the top of the ramp. Spears were protruding from the doorway of the chamber, preventing access. She peered inside and saw a big, ornate key, with a big jade colored emerald in the handle of the key. On either side of the chamber was a lever set in a decorative wall covering. She pulled one of them, and a set of the spears slide back into the floor. She pulled the other switch, and the rest of the spears disappeared. But a low rumble quickly set anxiety into her gut. She looked up-

-and saw the Atlas statue slowly leaning forward, the giant flaming Earth rocking slowly from his grip. She stood, frozen, until the sound of the globe snapping from his back brought her from the trance. She turned and sprinted down the ramp, the sound of the globe crashing against the sides of the walls deafening. She made a flying leap across the pit-

-and caught the edge one handed. She had a split second to pull herself up and roll away from the pit. The flaming ball of doom crashed down into the black abyss, causing an eerie silence to fall over Atlas' shrine. She spun the lever again, this time locking it stuck. She clambered back up the ramp and retrieved the Key of Atlas, and stuck it in her backpack.

She retraced her steps back to the central folly and climbed up and pulled the other switch opposite the one she already pulled. This opened the _Hephaestus _door. She clambered down from the switch, and then leaped back to the broken central structure. Here she could make a small leap over to the platform jutting out right below the _Hephaestus_ doorway. The first corridor of this puzzle room was built exactly like the one from _Atlas._ She saw the switch and the metal door with spears inside of it, but only this time there was a handhold on the door. She walked over and pulled the switch, then quickly grabbed on to the metal outcrop. The door opened slowly, and she could hear the spears retract. As soon as the door reached the top, it quickly started to plummet back down. She grabbed the opening above the door as it crashed back down. She dropped down through the other side and continued on. In the distance, she could hear a faint electric buzzing sound. As she neared the end of the dark corridor, she saw a bright blue flash of light every time she heard the sounds. She rounded the corner-

-and stopped, her mouth opening slightly in awe. A large, metal bronze ball was hanging from the middle of the room, coursing with electricity. Every so often the rust colored floor tiles would shift, some sinking into the ground and some raising above it. As the floor did this, the ball would shoot electricity in any random order across the floor. Lara leaned in closer, inspecting the lightning. It seemed it only struck the parts of the floor that were raised. Across the room was a large metal gate blocking her way further into the room. At each corner of the room, a single square tile was raised further from the rest, and didn't move when the rest of the floor did.

"_So that's my key through here…"_

She thought, building up some courage. She was pretty sure a strike from the glowing orb hovering above the room would surely kill her. At last, she leaped from her position and landed on the first of four tiles. It sunk into the floor, and she quickly scattered across toward the next one. As she did the floor in front of her raised up and the orb shot a strike of lightning down in front of her. She stumbled backward, covering her face with her hands.

The floor she was standing on lowered and the heel of her boot bumped into a section of floor behind her as it raised. She fell backwards, and had a few seconds to roll away off the raised section of floor as the bolt of lightning struck it, the electrical sound almost deafening. She stood back up and sprinted over to another of the floor tiles. It sunk down like the other, and she made a leap over to the one nearest the metal gate. She landed on it sideways, barely missing another deadly strike. She made a run for the last one, her boots starting to stick to the floor from all the heat created by the lightning.

She made it, and as the last one sunk down, the metal gate opened, and the orb slowly loss its electrical power. She headed into the new area. The ceiling was much higher, and the room was more or less just as empty. Across from her was a small shrine with a key resting on a pedestal. Spears blocked the shrine, not that it surprised her. The floor was decorated beautifully, with a large painting of Hephaestus hitting an iron anvil, bright blue electrical bolts shooting from the end of his sledgehammer. There were three round indentions on the floor as well, each the size of a dinner plate. Next to the shrine was a bust of Hephaestus, standing about to Lara's waist.

On the back of it was an iron handle. This kicked her brain into puzzle mode. She leisurely walked over to it, awing at the beautiful room. She grabbed the handle and dragged the bust over to one of the indentions. At each circular indention there was a large golden arrow, each one pointing to the middle of the room, where the shrine was. She rotated the bust until the face of Hephaestus was facing forward with the golden arrow. It locked into place. She grinned, taking a bit of pride in her efforts. She looked away from the bust and saw that toward the left wall of the room was an enormous hammer. It was made of marble, just like the rest of the room, and was trimmed at the edges and in the middle with thick layers of gold. There was a balcony above it, and also one above her. She walked over toward the hammer, and knelt down by the floor near it. It was fixed with gears near the bottom to bring the hammer crashing toward the ground. She looked over to where it would hit, and saw that the section of floor was a different color, and sunk in a little. She kicked some pebbles onto it, and nothing happen. She placed on foot with some wait, and saw it still didn't budge. She looked up at the hammer warily, unsure if the risk was worth it. Staying on guard, she stepped on it completely-

-and did an aerobic backflip, missing the crushing blow of the hammer by inches. The entire chamber rumbled, and was plunged into quietness. She hurried back toward the hammer and pulled herself up on the golden outcrop, then reached up and grabbed the top. She pulled herself up, then surveyed the room. There was a small ledge to the left of where she was standing, and she jumped toward it. The hammer eased back up into the positioned it has been in before. Lara saw a marble and golden box on the balcony. She leaped over to it, catching the banister. She pulled up, then pushed on the box a little.

It felt hollow. She pushed it harder, and pushed it through the balcony crashing to the floor below. She looked down and saw in the middle of the rubble was another bust. She lowered herself down and did the same with this bust as with the last. This opened a section of the wall, where another box was placed. She walked over and pulled it out, then pushed it onto the trigger of the hammer. It crashed down, destroying the box. The third and final bust was inside, and she pulled it away and onto the last indention. The spears retracted from the doorway and gave Lara access to the key. It looked exactly like the _Atlas _key, only it had a soft lavender colored gem instead of jade. She put it into her backpack and then retraced her steps back into the central structure area.

A platform came out from the doorway, giving her a bridge back to the middle. Here she hopped down another level, then had to lower herself and drop, then catch the ledge. Here she could make out below a little better. It was partially flooded and in ruins, with a large door over in the corner. There were four glowing lights, two on each side of the door, one red, one green, one purple, and one blue.

"_They correspond to the gems in the keys…"_

She thought, smiling. She looked up and saw two switches, one at ground floor and another right above it. She reached into her backpack and pulled out her hook grapple and attached it to the back of her gun belt. She then gripped the hook and gave her arm several strong spins before letting go. The hook attached itself to a weak pillar, and she pulled. The grapple retracted, and the old pillar came crashing down, make a makeshift bridge across to the lever. She walked over and pulled it, and heard a door behind her opening. She turned and saw that this door had the plate _Poseidon _above it.

She lowered herself down to the ledge where the last switch was. She pulled it, and the final door, which was also here at ground level, opened. It had the plate _Damocles _above it. He was the famous king who slept with a sword above his head, and Poseidon is the god of the sea, so she could kind of realize what the puzzles would be based on. She decided to take _Poseidon_ first, since she had always been the top of her class when it came to swimming. She vaulted back up onto the broken pillar and headed over to the doorway. Just like she suspected, the opening corridor was built with the same door and switch style as the other two. Only in this one there were puddles of water everywhere. She pulled the switch, and it opened with no problem. She walked through and it closed, spears appearing and all. She continued on down the dank corridor until coming to a room with a square pool of water in the middle. It reflected beautiful crystal blue lights throughout the room, lighting up the four pillars at each corner of the pool.

She slid off her backpack, boots, and placed her pistols on top of them, then slid into the icy water. She tried to look for the bottom, but saw the pool was too deep and narrow. She took in a deep breath, and began swimming furiously downward. The rushing sound of water filled her ears, and the murky liquid stung her eyes, but she pressed onward. Finally she reached the bottom and quickly surveyed the depths. There was a lever to her right and straight-ahead was the key of Poseidon, blocked by spears. She pulled the switch, and felt the water current switch. The doorway opened, and she swam over and quickly snatched the key, which had a shimmering Sapphire colored gem set into the handle. Now her lungs were starting to give her the warning she needed air, fast. She started swimming back up the deep shaft, and found out she was now swimming against the current. She pushed her arms and legs faster, seeing the top inch closer and closer. She pushed off the sides with her legs, trying to gain momentum.

Her lungs were burning, her brain screeching for air. She was on the verge of a blackout when she pierced through the surface, filling her lungs with live giving air. She laughed quietly to herself, pushing away the fact her life was once again in the balance. But it didn't matter, she got the key. She placed it in her backpack and gathered her gear, then quickly exited the watery shrine. Lara noticed that each time she would complete a puzzle, the torches by the doorways and corresponding switches would burn out.

"_And now, one more to go. C'mon ole' gal, your doin just great."_

She made her way back to the bottom of the chamber and entered the shrine of _Damocles._ The first room was very high, with pillars going the length and width of the room. In the middle of the pillars were hundreds of horizontal slots, and the floor changed from marble to metal. She hurried across it and entered the antechamber. Here was the final key, a beautiful Ruby colored gem set into the handle, high on a circular pedestal. Above it was an array of different rusty swords, all set in a circular fashion on the ceiling, blades pointed downward. She stepped up onto the pedestal and snatched the key-

-then quickly rolled off as the death blades crashed into the ground, each one sliding easily into the hard marble, making a thunderous boom. Then it was like the whole shrine was set into motion. She saw the gate that lead into the shrine slam close, and blades quickly protruded from the floor through the horizontal slots. She made her way back toward the first room, but noticed something different. There were square marble tiles lying on the floor now, in a specific pattern. She remembered the tale, and looked up.

"_Oh, wonderful…"_

Covering the ceiling now were dozens of swords, each one spinning precariously. She took a step forward-

-and froze as a sword bigger than her crashed to the ground, sending marble pieces and sparks flying. She cried out and stumbled backward, covering her face. But as she did she stumbled into the path of another ceiling sword. She had to jump to the side as it too crashed to the ground, missing her by inches. She froze, eyeing the ceiling. There were none in the middle of the room, but to get through the middle of the room she had to dodge the blades that would periodically pop up from the floor in different random sections. Any other time blades were blocking the way. She had to navigate it carefully. The first set retracted back into the floor, and she stepped onto it. Several more rose up, but in front of her another section retracted, giving her room to move around. Near the end, she leaped over the last gap-

-and then dived forward into the entranceway to dodge another sword. She paused, taking in a deep breath.

"_Now this is a workout, I'll have to install some of these in the gym…"_

The switch to reopen the gate was on the balcony above her, and to get there she just have to climb up the vines, and dodge another sword. It was a little easier than she thought to coax it to fall, then she easily climbed up and reopened the gate, then made her way back. She walked over to the door at the bottom, and unlocked each lock with the corresponding key based on the color. Each time she did so, a metal bar would retract from the door. Finally, all were gone and the door opened. She smiled with satisfaction, and continued on.


	7. Chapter 6: Coliseum

Chapter 6

The Coliseum The stone passageway was covered lightly in mint green vines, adding more of a decorative touch to the ancient Roman corridor. Her brown leather boots echoed fully as she kept a steady stride down the long path, which turned right at the end. It appeared she was in the water works of some building. Instead of indoor plumbing ancient stone waterways carried the water through a network of different channels.

There was a pile of rock and rubble at the far end, with a balcony up on the left side of the wall. The end toward the entrance had broken down, creating a ramp up to the balcony. She stepped on it to check how sturdy it was, then hoisted herself and made her way to the top. There were bones of several large rodents up here, along with pieces of bat bones. She saw a pool of water behind the rubble, surprised to see it clear and gently flowing to stop stagnation. She hopped down, then dipped her hand in to check the temperature. It was cool. She took several sips, then slid into the water. There was a path that dead-ended behind her and one that continued forward that split left and right. She swam over to it and checked to the right. A bright beam of sunlight came through the water, splitting into brilliant beams. The path to the left had rubble, but she could see the light of an opening. She pulled herself through the crevice, then swam quickly to the opening, breaking through the water. She sucked in a lungful of air, then pulled herself out of the pool. She was now in rusted prison area, full of old, big iron cages. This was odd to her.

"_Where on Earth am I…?"_

She climbed over one of the cages blocking her path, finding a big silver key with a white opal in the handle. She placed the ornate key in her backpack and continued up the dirt ramp. At the top of the spiraling ramp, she came to a huge doorway into an expansive area. She stopped as she heard the hooting of an animal. She looked around, realizing she was in an ancient Roman Coliseum. Finally she spotted the animal as it leaped from the seating area down to her level. It was a gorilla, and not some regular primate, this gorilla was easily five times her size and width. It lifted a huge boulder from the ground and with ease flung it at her.

She ducked, drawing her pistols and aimed them toward the beast. Her breath caught in her throat as another one appeared from behind the pillars up in the stands and joined its comrade. She immediately began firing each pistol, glazing the gorillas with hot lead. This infuriated the closer one, and he rushed at her in a blind rage. She dived sideways, firing several shots into the animal's head. It rolled into a bloody pile, dead. She then focused on the second, larger one. It had its fangs showing, walking around her slowly. Lara did the same, keeping both guns aim at the animal. Finally it began lunging at her. She cracked a half smile and began firing away, running toward the beast. She did a front flip over it, landing smoothly. She turned to face the monster-

-and finds out its already running at her. She jumps out of the way, landing hard on her elbows. She fires several more shots into the gorilla before it finally falls to the ground in a dead slump. She stood up, holstering her weapons. One of her elbows were bleeding, but nothing life threatening. She took some gauze from a medical kit and cleaned it up, then applied a bandage to it. She moved her arm a bit, then surveyed the coliseum more closely. At each end was a building, one was smaller and looked less significant than where the ruler or king would set.

She looked at that building. It had two smaller doors at the base, one of which she entered. A giant statue of Athena was in the middle, and the balcony was resting above her. There was a large opening in the ceiling, allowing sunlight to brighten up the arena. She looked over and saw a break where the creatures had come to attack her. She walked over to it, reaching up to see if she could grab the ledge. It was still too far up. She crouched and jumped up as far as she could, and felt the ledge come up underneath her fingers. She grabbed on, pulling herself up. She walked up several of the seats toward a pillar when a gunshot rung throughout the air and rock shards exploded beside her. She dived behind the pillar, drawing her weapons.

"Better pick up the pace!" Came Pierre's voice. Lara furrowed her eyebrows, then holstered her guns and looked around. He was gone. She turned her attention back to the pillar, and saw that of all the ones lining this circular place, this one was broken off at the middle. She vaulted up, then spied a ledge over to her left. She jumped toward it, the rock immediately gave way. She slid a few feet before landing behind some rubble near the Emperors building.

She noticed that from a running jump she could probably make the leap to the balcony. She did, and glided easily over. She walked over to the front balcony over looking the coliseum. There was an old switch near the throne, and she pulled it. The sound of a door opening below filled the cavern. She turned and saw another larger door with a keyhole beside it. She figured the key she picked up in the holding area would fit it, but she hated the thought of leaving the other underground section unexplored. She vaulted over the balcony and climbed down the Athena statue. She walked over to the second doorway-

-and jumped back as lion lunged out. She drew her pistols as two female lions followed the large male. His mane was puffed up and mighty, with the two slender females crouched low, glaring at Lara. She backed up slowly, running into the building. She then opened fired on the male lion. He howled and then circled around her, the other two coming in close. She ran up and jumped on top of the male, pushing off his back. She crumpled to the ground, distracting one of the females. The second one hissed, then swiped at her with its powerful claws. She hopped back, and she swiped again, nicking her calf. She pressed the gun barrel to the feral cats' head and fired once, killing her. She looked up and fired the last of the magazines into the last lion, and it too collapsed.

The gunfight had caved in the newly opened passageway, so Lara made her way back up to the balcony to use the key. The gate opened up slowly, revealing only a ladder going up. Way up. Lara completed the ascend, awing at the amazing view she got of the coliseum from atop the Emperors Watchout. She was now directly across from the smaller building. By several jumps and a large gap to swing with her hook grapple, she made it over to a ledge near the building, where she climbed down and inside of it. This wasn't just another building, it was a passageway into a completely different area. It felt different, almost like she could feel how long a human being had been in, which was quite some time.


	8. Chapter 7: Midas' Palace

Chapter 7 Midas' Palace 

The passageway turned to a grand staircase that led to something unbelievable. Fruits and flowers lined the walkway into the sun soaked chamber. The Garden is quadrangular, and consists of arched vaults which are located on checkered cube-like foundations, a small marble water fountain located at each corner.

The garden has plants cultivated above ground level, and the roots of the trees are embedded in an upper terrace rather than in the earth. The whole mass is supported on stone columns. Streams of water emerging from elevated sources flow down sloping channels, these waters irrigate the whole garden saturating the roots of plants and keeping the whole area moist.

In the middle of the room was a pool, where each of the channels along the walls carried crystal clear drinking water. The opening in the roof was lined with exotic butterflies and insects swarming near the line of equally exotic flowers. Across from her at the other end of the room was the main attraction, a statue of King Midas the size of the Lincoln Memorial. He was setting on a throne that was on top of a giant pedestal. At the bottom of the pedestal going across was the name _MIDAS_ in gold lettering.

At each foot and knee there were four small rectangular indention's. In one of them was a gold bar that fit in perfectly. At his foot was the statue's hand, chipped from the rest by time. Lara stepped further into the lush garden-

-and stopped short as three gorilla's ran out from behind the statue. She aim her pistols at the closest two and opened fired. They stopped, surprised by the wave of pain. Then they howled and began running toward her. She ran to the side, doing several flips past some columns, firing all the while. One of the primates crashed into a pillar, causing one of the channels to collapse.

It crumpled into a heap in the rubble. The last two gorillas were spaced apart, one close to her and one examining Midas' hand. She focused on the close one as it raised its fists and began pounding its firm chest. She aimed at the gorilla's head and open fired, killing it instantly. She looked over at the other one, which had leapt up into the hand. It look around confused, then began screaming as a sheathing of gold crept over its body, continuing to its head until it was a golden statue, before falling to the ground and shattering in a golden heap. She holstered her weapons, walking over to the rock hand with a giant smile on her face. She dare not touch it, but just looked at it for a second.

She then looked back toward the broken channel, using it to climb up to the balcony. Up here there was a stitch that she pulled, which opened one of the three large iron doors in the garden. She made her way down and over to it. The passage was dark and wide, continuing on to the left. She pulled out a flare and made her way down, going down another dark corridor after turning left. Here it turned right, opening to a giant puzzle chamber. The floor tiles were a light yellow green, surrounded by white marble. Going along the corners of the room all the way to the middle of the floor was iron grating.

The floor was covered with circular pits of Roman spears, some surrounding short marble pillars or short pillars lined in gold and iron, with holes in the top. On the left and right walls were large openings, one with a pedestal and one with a large switch protruding from the floor. Across from her was another doorway and steps leading to the opening with the switch.

There were four large holes in the ceiling, allowing sunlight to flow through. She dropped the flare and followed it, coming out to the balcony. She griped the switch and pulled it down, making it touch the floor. All the pillars rose up slowly, making eerie scraping sounds from the stones.

After they were all raised, she could vaguely make a jump pattern from the pillars, ledges, and ramps to the other side of the room. She vaulted herself over the balcony and then took the large step over to the medium sized white marble pillar. As soon as all her weight was on it, she heard a deep clicking sound, then the pillar started to vibrate.

She quickly jumped over to the iron pillar, slipping from the top but grabbing the iron outcrop a little ways down. The marble pillar slowly retracted back into the floor, while all the iron pillars with the holes on top, like the one she was on now, all sprouted spears. She moved carefully around the pillar, leaping to a ramp.

She slid for a moment, then jumped forward to grab a dark gray ledge coming from the wall. It began to also shake and move, so she pulled up and jumped back toward the middle of the room where another iron pillar was. She moved around it, jumping to a white marble pillar that started to retract to a ramp where she jumped forward onto another ledge completely on the opposite side of the room.

It began to retract into the wall, so she continued forward by jumping to another white pillar, then an iron one, and then a ramp over to the other balcony. She wiped the sweat from her brow, bending on her knees to catch her breath.

She tightened her gloves, then brushed some hair from her eyes before walking over to the dark granite pedestal. On it was a lead bar the size of her fist. She picked it up and found it was rather heavy. She placed it in her backpack, and made her way back down to the floor. She headed over to the corridor, but stopped as she heard the sound of something heavy hit the floor from the other end of the corridor. She drew a pistol and kept her back pressed against the wall as she moved down slowly. She neared the end and peeked around the corner-

-and jerked away quickly as a boulder was hauled at her. It obliterated the wall at the corner, sending razor sharp pieces flying. She drew her other pistol and then dived sideways into the corridor, guns blazing. There were now two gorillas and a female lion at the end, all running and snarling toward her. She kept firing, standing steady. She took down the lion and slowed the gorilla in front. The other one shoved it out of the way and kept running toward her.

Her guns clicked empty, and she sprinted back down toward the puzzle room. She ejected a clip and spin kicked, sending it flying down the hall. It hit the primate with little effect. She quickly reloaded and began firing some more, finally ridding herself of the gorilla. She came back out into the garden area, and decided to climb up the statue of Midas. She reached the balcony behind his head and pulled herself onto it, finding a switch on the back of the head.

She pulled it, and the second of the three doors opened, this one at the ground level as well. She made her way down to it and followed similar dark corridors to the next puzzle room. This opened up into an incredibly large chamber with a huge column in the middle. It easily stood the size of a redwood tree. She made her way around the column and followed steps downstairs.

The air became cooler quickly, and as she rounded the corner at the bottom, she stopped as large male lion stood up proudly near the base of the huge column, roaring defiantly. She drew a pistol and fired several times at the large cat, causing it to hiss and come running at her.

She kept firing until her gun was empty, and the lion fell down dead. She reloaded it and holstered it, then went and examined the base of the pillar. It was cracked and look very unsteady, with several wooden beams hooked to it for stability. She went around and kicked then, shooting the hooks off the chains. The column rumbled, then collapsed on itself. Another lead bar fell from top, and Lara quickly pocketed it. She made her way back up to the main area, to find it filled with sand and completely different.

The way back was cut off, so she'd have to get up higher and traverse the room from above to make it back to the garden area. She pulled herself up on some rubble, reaching a higher balcony. Here she leapt over to a pile of sand that reached up pretty high, latching onto an outcrop in the wall. Here several bats were disturbed, causing her to stumble.

She regained her balance, taking several short breaths before tossing her hook grapple to a weak part that was left of the pillar and pulled it down, creating a bridge over near the opening she was trying to reach. There was a wide section of wall separating her from the opening.

"If only I could walk on walls…."She mumbled, looking around. Finally she spotted an ornate golden ring coming from the wall. She threw her the hook at it several times before it finally hooked. She tugged on it, then pressed a boot against the wall.

"I can't believe I'm about to attempt this…" 

She thought worriedly. Then, freeing her mind, she leaned back and then jumped laterally toward the wall, the wire from the hook grapple taking all her weight.

Then with some effort she swung herself toward the opening, running against the wall. She jerked on the cord to unhook the grapple then landed sideways in the opening. The grapple retracted back, and she stood up, overcome with a bit of self-pride. She wasn't into herself at all, but she knew when a tough obstacle had been overcome. She made her way back to Midas' Palace, coming out on a balcony unreachable before.

There was another switch here, and she pulled it. It opened the final door that was located behind the statue of Midas. She made her way over to it, noticing immediately this corridor was different. Lining the whole way to the puzzle room were large goblets of fire.

She shook off the odd feeling and continued on, noticing that this puzzle room was a bit darker cause of a lack of any major source of light. This room was all an off orange colored stone, which had about twelve feet of water at the bottom. There were several circular pillars in here, some going higher than others. The walkway extended a few feet over the water, coming close to a shorter pillar. She stepped onto the walkway-

-and the entire chamber was suddenly engulfed in flames. All of the pillars became active, each one sprouting balls of fire from the bases and along the sides. It looked impossible to traverse. At the opposite end of the room were a grand archway and a pedestal with the third and final lead bar.

After doing some mental preparation, she stepped back onto the walkway and jumped to the first short pillar while the fire that burst from the top stopped. She moved quickly to the next larger pillar, careful to avoid the flames that were rotating around the base. She jumped to the next short pillar, but stumbled back as the fire erupted in her face. She caught on to the edge of the pillar, and pulled herself up once the fire stopped. She then jumped over to the next, larger pillar.

This one had no base to stand on, but was covered in handholds. Bronze faces decorated this one, the fire shooting from their mouths. She carefully climbed her way to the top, avoiding the spurts of flame. She stood atop this pillar, which towered above the rest. The last pillar she'd have to jump to look the most difficult. Around the base were rotating flames, which complemented the sprouts of fire the rotated around the length of the pillar. She readied herself, then jumped to the base when it was clear. She quickly jumped up and grabbed one of the handholds, the fire rotating underneath starting to melt her shoes.

There were two balls of fire that were moving back and forth on both sides of her. She reached up again, underneath an inactive bronze face. Here she maintained her grip and rotated around the pillar, pulling herself up one last time before dodging a shot of flame before jumping laterally to the balcony. She picked up the lead bar hastily and dived into the water to quickly make her way back to the entrance of the room.

She came back into the garden area, then made her way over to the hand. She carefully removed all three lead bars and placed them on the hand. She watched in amazement as they slowly turned to bars of gold. After they were all done she put them in the appropriate slots in the statue. She heard a deep rumbling come from the pool in the middle of the room, and walked over to it.

A gate had opened up, allowing access to a new area. On an adventurous high, she dived into the water all smiles, ready for anything.


	9. Chapter 8: The Cistern

Chapter 8

**The Cistern**

The narrow passageway continued straight ahead with the opening visible. The water had started to get a little greener and smelled a little more…moldy. She pulled herself out, letting her eyes adjust to the sudden plunge of darkness. She was in a small room with an opening straight ahead, a wooden box in the way. She pushed it out into the next room, which was just as cold and just as dark.

She heard constant chattering along the floor. She fumbled for a flare and lit it. She opened her eyes wider as they adjust to what she saw. Three or four large rats were scurrying around, now attracted by the flare. They came at her, beady red eyes searching for fresh meat. She stomped on the first one that reached her, then drew her weapons and started firing.

She managed to kill all but one, which left her alone. She holstered her pistols and then hopped down into the chamber below. Here was another opening leading into something magnificent. An ancient cistern built for some city or temple underneath the ground. It was easily the size of a small village, filled halfway with water, with stone arches, bridges, and water tunnels everywhere.

"Better pick up the pace, Lara!" She looked around as Pierre's voice drifted to her ears.

"I'm working on it." She said coldly, keeping her hand resting on the handle of her pistol. She walked slowly down the stone bridge. Looking at the other end of the room. There was another opening, with three Roman heads shooting water into a pool below it. Up on the wall to her left were an alcove and a rotating switch with two handles. She walked up to it and spun it several times.

Water began gushing form circular gratings along the wall. It soon filled the water up to the bridges. She dived in and began swimming over to the bridge near the opening when something clamped down on her foot, hard. She screamed in pain, then turned-

-to see a giant crocodile with its mouth firmly over her foot. She wriggled around, making the pain worse. It pulled her further under the water in mere seconds. She tried kicking at it with her other leg, knowing shooting it was out of the question. She saw bright red blood pool around her foot, attracting several more from deep below the cistern. Her lungs were already empty of air and screaming for another breath.

She lurched forward and with all her might soccer punched it in the snout. It let go, the pressure and pain easing. She turned back toward her destination and started swimming, feeling the rush of water as more crocs started to circle her. She broke through the surface and paddled quickly over to the bridge, then pulled herself up and 180 spun, drawing both pistols.

She began firing blindly into the water, not realizing that she was showing her teeth and screaming. Finally, after her pistols clicked empty she froze, lowering her arms. All of the crocs had been killed. She took several deep breaths, then collapsed.

The bite was making her whole leg throb and ache with pain. She pulled a first-aid kit from her backpack and unlaced her boot, kicking it off. The bite wasn't very large, but deep. She cleaned it up a bit then wrapped it with gauze, then but back on her boot. She popped a few pain relievers and waited for a few minutes, drinking some water. She stood back up, putting some pressure on her leg.

The pain wasn't as bad and she had to stitch up her boot, but was alive and had all of her limbs. She considered herself lucky. She hopped over to the opening and peered into the pool. This water was clear and cool. She dived in, a sudden current carrying her through the water.

Finally she came shooting out of a pipe into another much larger pool of water, now in some foreign cave. She brushed her hair back out of her face, looking around as the water cast blue reflections along the ceiling. The pool she was in continued further. She took a deep breath and swam on, the water becoming cooler on her skin. This had to lead somewhere.


	10. Chapter 9: Tomb of Tihocan

Chapter 9

**Tomb of Tihocan**

She surfaced quickly, her eyes immediately looking ahead. There was a large tomb sitting ominously against the dark cave wall, the only light coming from two large hanging goblets of fire near the two pillars next to the entrance of the tomb. Guarding the tomb in a mystical rage was two huge statues of Centaur monsters, each posed with bow and arrows raised high in the air in a triumphant manner, only instead of being half horse half-human, it was half horse half…something else.

She swam over to the little island the temple was sitting on, pulling herself up. There was grass covering the edges of the stone walkway, making her think that maybe this area was above ground at one time. The last stone she stepped on opened the tomb entrance. She walked in carefully, guided by torches along the wall. The tomb was dark at first, with light shining through several columns to the left.

Set up high on a raised platform in the next room was a pedestal with another piece of the Scion, set in a three-pronged golden holder. A black marble Sarcophagus was behind the stand. Intrigued, Lara walked over to it and read the inscription on it.

"Here lies the God-King Tihocan, one of the Triumvirate. Keeper of the Scion. One of the two just rulers after the Great Betrayal caused Atlantis to be lost beneath the waves."

Lara raised her eyebrow in confusion, then pushed on the lid of the coffin. It moved slowly, and as it slid off she grabbed a torch from the wall and looked inside the dank casket. It was empty. She leaned up slowly-

-and the back of her head hit the cold metal of a gun barrel.

"You see, instincts can be expensive Mademoiselle. Yours is going to cost you _both _pieces of the Scion." Lara narrowed her eyes.

"That's not a price I'm prepared to make Pierre." She said coldly, keeping still.

"Don't be absurd Lara! No job is worth dying for…?" Lara thought for a moment, considering and weighing out the outcomes. After a few moments, she spoke in a soft, grave tone.

"Yes…it is…" 

Her heart began pounding as she jerked to the side quickly and punched Pierre in the jaw. Her shook his head as she did several flips, dodging shots from his powerful black 50. Caliber pistol.

She landed beside him, karate kicking his gun up and out of his hand, then spun and kicked him in the abdomen. She caught the gun and dove behind Tihocan's casket as he pulled his other 50. Caliber and fired several more before the gun clicked, and she heard him throw it down. She pulled the slide back, loading another bullet into the powerful pistol and stood up, aiming it forward.

She saw Pierre exit the tomb, still clutching Tihocan's piece of the Scion. She hopped over the casket and followed him. She heard the sounds of fire erupt, and as she neared the entrance she slowed, as if in a trance. The two Guardian Centaurs were now alive and moving, each with an old army helmet with a red tassel, silver shields, and bow and arrows.

The top half looked so abnormal, like some alien race. The mouths were long and full of small, sharp teeth. Their eyes were glowing red, a fire within them. Pierre looked at the Scion, then at Lara.

"On second thought, you have it!" He yelled, then threw it over to her. She jumped up and caught it safely.

"_Bon Chance_" He said, waving. The Centaurs turned toward Pierre, then raised up in a defiant scream-

-before coming back down and stomping Pierre into the ground, his scream unheard over the pounding hooves. She put the piece of the Scion into her backpack and raised the 50. Caliber, diving over the fire caused from them knocking the goblets of fire down.

They focused on her, and she began firing, the gun jumping in her hand. She kept a firm griping, firing at each monster. A green glow suddenly appeared around their faces, and she stopped firing. She heard a piercing whistling sound, then ducked down and covered her head as a green bolt of energy shot from the eyes, turning the nearby iron grating to stone. She rolled over, jumping back up with the gun blazing. The one closest to her roared then began charging at her.

She dived to the right, firing the last 50. Caliber shot into its head. It slid to a halt, wavering around. She ran over and snatched the shield from the beast, waking it from the painful trance. She drew her pistols and began firing at both of them at the same time, gritting her teeth with determination.

"C'mon boys! Is that all you got?!" She screamed over the banging of her pistols. The other one jumped up and swiped at her with its shield. She jumped away, kicking the shield from its claws. The other one was standing still, a bright white light forming from its head, hands raised. Then suddenly a ball of fire shot forward, coming at Lara. She back flipped, firing the whole time. The green orb appeared around their heads again, and she stood up, out of breath and bleeding.

She looked at the shields, then rolled over and picked one up, coming back to her feet. She ducked and raised it, feeling the green energy ram into it. After it stopped she looked up and saw both Centaurs were stone. She saw chips breaking and flying off, so she ran over and grabbed the chain that hung one of the fire goblets and began swinging it around.

She let go of it as it swung forward, taking both heads from the beasts. The stone covering broke off and they both fell to the ground, pints of dark red blood squirting from their necks. She looked away at them and Pierre's crumpled body, pulling out both pieces of the Scion. The seemed to attract to each other, almost like magnets. A glow of energy appeared around her as she connected them both together. The floor suddenly gave away and she felt herself falling, pieces of floor coming with her.

She looked around as something bright circled her. She spun her falling body to face it as it rose up, seeing now it was a giant mirage of the Scion. It came apart, all the pieces floating side by side. The she heard a deep voice talking come into range.

"You have broken the sacred Triumvirate of Atlantis, tainted the powers of the Scion, and mangled Qualopec, your own brother!"

Giant images of three people, one in a large walking contraption with metal spider like legs which she guess was Qualopec, and a handsome man with masculine features and dark hair, who was Tihocan, were both standing next to a slender figure knelt down in shame.

"I am still here wretch." Said Qualopec, leaning close to the third ruler, who Lara couldn't quite see. "You may have destroyed our continent, but it is my face you will see in your nightmares…" He leaned away.

"What have you to say for yourself?" Barked Tihocan. Lara then continued falling past them as the third and final piece of the Scion came down and hovered near a mirage of an opening in Egypt. She could make out several land features of the area, realizing it was the Temple of Khamoon.

The piece of the Scion flew into the opening, and she looked down as reality rushed back toward her and she landed back in front of Tihocan's tomb, dropping the two connected pieces of the Scion. She reached out and picked it back up, dusting herself off. She looked like hell and felt just as bad, but she had the second piece and knew where the last piece was. A trip home and she would be off for Egypt.


	11. Chapter 10: Temple of Khamoon

Chapter 10

**Temple of Khamoon**

The roar of the motor cycle's engine blocked any other sound from reaching her ears as she sped through Egyptian terrain. The night she had went home to Croft manor, she had spend almost all her time studying the two pieces of the Scion, connecting them and then taking them apart.

Winston had helped her use the Scion to find directions to her destination, the lost Temple of Khamoon. Apparently this was where the traitor's piece of the Scion was taken, deep in the heart of Egypt. The desert was hot, so she had remained in her raiding outfit. She had attached a back holster to her backpack and brought along a black with wood trim pump action 12. Gauge shotgun.

The bike leapt over a sand dune, and in her view up ahead was the entrance she had seen in the vision. She slowed down, parking the blue bike beside the wall. She pulled out a flare and tossed it into the opening, seeing that it went straight down.

"Here goes nothing." She said quietly, then hopped down. She removed the round sunglasses and tucked them into her pocket, picking up the flare. The sandy cave was brighter than she though, sunlight coming in through numerous holes and cracks. She walked down the cave, her boots muffled by the sand. Finally she came to an opening way up high from the floor.

She lowered herself down from the ledge then dropped, landing smoothly. She saw straight ahead high up on the wall was another opening. There were two columns in ruins on each side of the opening. She threw the hook grapple at one of them, and it began to tumble.

It exploded as it hit the ground in a deafening boom, making an extra few steps up off the ground. She climbed atop the rubble and found she could now reach the opening. She pulled herself up and made her way down the dark corridor, glancing at the paintings of ancient Egyptians on the wall.

Finally there was a hole at the end where light was pouring in. She stepped through and slid down an incline of sand. This disturbed a sleeping black panther in the corner, which awoke with a deep growl. She backed up slowly, reaching for the shotgun.

It hissed, showing its teeth-

-then lunged at her, giving her just enough time to draw the shotgun and bring it up to shield herself, keeping mere inches from her and the sharp teeth of the large cat.

She kicked it once, then flipped up, letting go of the shotgun. She drew her pistols and fired several shots from each one until the panther was dead. She holstered those and then picked up the shotgun, holstering it as well. She vaulted up the next ledge and examined the next room.

The cave opened up at the top, letting bright sunlight pour through. There was an obelisk on a stone platform in a pool in the middle of the room, with two moderately sized sphinx statues on each side. Several lily pads floated leisurely on the water.

She slid down the sandy incline and stepped forward a bit, her eyes adjusting to the sudden brightness. She could now make out a figure standing in front of the furthest sphinx with his arms cross and his head down. She squinted her eyes and stepped forward-

-but froze as a deep, throaty hiss came from the dark corner behind her. She turned slowly until she was facing the figure, which was easily a head taller than she was. It had bandages wrapped around his head, torso, arms, and legs.

"_No way…"_

She thought, her mouth dropping in fear. It turned, head still lowered, until she could make out most of the body. There was no skin, only brown, dried up muscle. It raised its head quickly, and Lara jumped back. The eyes were glowing a faint, deep red.

It then screamed at her, opening its huge mouth full of razor sharp fangs. She drew her pistols, aiming it quickly at the mummy monster. The other one followed its comrade in a death howl, then it began lunging at her, running on all fours. She quickly looked back forward as this one swiped at her.

She ducked, then open fired. It stopped for a second, surprised, then continued its attack toward her. She kept pulling the triggers of her pistols, filling the ancient creature with hot lead.

The second one backhanded her across the stomach, and it sent her sprawling to the ground. It jumped on top of her, and she kicked it several times before shoving the barrel of her gun in its mouth. It opened its eyes wider and started struggling.

She smiled at it, then fired. Blood sprayed across her face, immediately smelling rotten. She kicked the carcass off her and stood up, firing at the last mummy. Something about the face of the creatures look familiar, like she had seen it before. The mummy stood up, now towering over Lara. She quickly stepped backward, keeping her eyes and guns trained on the mummy.

A bright light appeared above its head, and then it clicked. The Centaurs. Whatever race they had been, these mummies were to. She dived out of the way as it hurled a gigantic fireball at her, exploding on contact. She holstered the pistols and drew the shotgun, delivering several powerful blows to the things upper torso and head before it finally fell to the ground, twitching in a pool of blood.

It had taken a magazine from each pistol and several shotgun blasts to take them down. Hopefully there weren't more of them. She walked over to the one she hadn't obliterated with the shotgun and knelt down by it, peeling some of the bandages away.

A putrid smell wafted to her nose, and she looked away in disgust. She took several breaths and looked back at the dead creature. There was an ancient text carved onto it that she couldn't quite understand.

"They _are _a different race!" She said suddenly, moving away from the mummy. She walked over to the obelisk by way of the stone walkway and saw different shaped indention's on each side, surrounded by Egyptian writing.

The sphinx in the direct sunlight was more rugged, and the door in his chest was broken at the top right corner. She walked over to it and hopped several times, getting glimpses of a short corridor that quickly turned left. Before she explored, she walked over and cupped some of the crystal clear water in her hands, wiping her face and neck. She repeated this several times, then inspected her face in the waters shimmering reflection. The blood was gone, but there were a couple small dirt smudges near her cheek and chin. She shrugged, stepping back over toward the momument.

She stepped up onto the sphinx paw, then jumped up to his shoulder, sliding a little. She reached over for a ledge behind the sphinx that broke once she grabbed it.

She caught an outcrop with her foot and shimmied over before pulling herself up. She walked over behind the head and saw a switch embedded in silver. She pulled it, and felt something moving within the statue.

She heard the sound of moving stone, assuming the door was now open. She climbed back down the statue and saw that the door had opened. She pulled a flare and headed down, keeping her fingers lightly against the wall. Finally the corridor turned to an open lighter area. She ditched the flare and looked around. Several ornate grates were blocking off several holding areas, one holding two sleeping black panthers. She looked right and was in awe.

Along the two huge chamber walls were six statues, three on each side, of famous Egyptian kings, each clad in royal hat and holding a large, flat stone slab. The cave opened up here as well, letting in natural light.

At the end of the room was an opening high up on the wall, with several more holding areas along the bottom of the wall. Toward the left wall was another opening, still to high to reach from the ground. She pulled the switch that was here, and all of the statues slid forward on hidden hinges.

All of the gates to the holding area's lifted as well, disturbing everything in them. Looked around as four panthers, two from each holding area came walking out, looking for the cause of the disturbance. She began back flipping down the large chamber, ending on her feet firing the shotgun. One jumped up at her and she stuck her leg out, stopping it short. She lowered the gun and fired once, killing it.

Two came at her from the left, and she did a summersault, firing the shotgun in mid air. It clipped the backside of them, chipping the rock wall as well. The last one came from behind, standing up and wrapping its powerful arms around her stomach, claws sinking into her abdomen.

She fell to the ground on her face, the shotgun sliding from grasp. The other two wounded ones came up, joining the one latched to her back. She kept an arm out for protection as she fumbled for one of her pistols. She elbowed the panther on her back to stop it from biting at her shoulders, then drew a pistol and finished the two in front of her. The shots made the panther on her back jump off and back away.

She jumped to her feet and spun, drawing the other pistol. She filled the large cat with lead, dropping it instantly. She holstered the pistols and retrieved the shotgun, then lifted her tank to check out her stomach. There were eight tiny holes, four for each claw, trickling droplets of blood.

She took out some cleaning wipes and kept them clean until the bleeding stopped, then taped thin gauze on her stomach and lowered her shirt. She reloaded her arsenal while she took a short stop, then walked down the length of the chamber to the large statue nearest the opening. She climbed up it, vaulting herself up onto the stone slab.

She hopped over to the opening, which quickly turned left. Here the tomb opened up again, with the ceiling open for sunlight. A giant pool was in the middle of the room, right in front of a large, open shrine with a jade statue of the cat goddess Bastet.

The Temple of the Cat was set up high, with the rest of the room relatively empty. She lowered herself down and started walking to the elegant gold and stone pool-

-when she heard a deep hiss come from behind her. She turned pistols ready for a mummy monster when a giant, scaly green Crocodile came running out, its tail lashing around. She open fired, crimson splatters appearing over its back and head. It growled, then snapped up at her. She stumbled backward, falling into the pool of water. Her body turned to ice as she slid smoothly into the water. She swam up to the surface, looking around.

The croc was coming up quickly, ready to leap into the pool with her. She got out and rolled, coming up steady on her feet. She drew the shotgun again, firing one shot into the reptile's head. It slowed, squirming around as fresh blood pumped through the wound. It finally settled down, dead. She took several deep breaths, holstering her weapons. The area around the statue proved to come up with nothing of use, so she looked down into the water.

There was a tiny square opening, just big enough for her to fit through. She sucked in her breath and dived in, swimming down and through the hole. She came into a long, narrow passage. Right dead-ended and to the left was a gate blocking entrance into a larger room. There was a switch on the wall in front of her, and she reached out to pull it, gripping onto it with two hands. She leveraged her feet on the wall and pulled down, hearing the gate creak open.

She started swimming toward it, the gate almost immediately starting to close. She wasn't ready for this, and even though she picked up her pace she didn't reach it in time. Panic start to set in as she realized how far the swim back and up was, and how little oxygen was left in her lungs. She tried swimming easily, gliding through the water as calmly as she could.

Once she reached the opening however, spots were dotting her vision. She stroked a bit harder, finally breaking the surface. She inhaled deeply, filling her lungs entirely. She took in several more before holding it again and going back down, this time going from the pulling the lever to quickly swimming down the passage.

She came close, barely squeezing through as the gate shut firmly, preventing backtracking. In here the chamber became gloomy, with the soft blue water ripples reflecting off the base of the wall. There was a balcony jutting out above her, with an opening near it.

Above that was another opening but no balcony. On a platform on the second floor also was a large stone box, covered in Egyptian hieroglyphics. She walked around the platform coming out of the water, looking for a way to reach the area above.

Finally she spotted something that may help, several loose handholds that had formed after pieces of the wall had chipped and broken away. She jumped over to them, grabbing on with one hand. She steadied her grip, then placed both feet on the wall. Summing up some strength, she pushed off the way backwards and grabbed onto the balcony. She let out a small laugh, and pulled herself up-

-when she felt the entire balcony moving. She looked around quickly, realizing the platforms were sliding back into the wall on hidden rollers. She jumped over the middle gap, landing in the entrance to the next room. Here there were two wooden poles, one coming up from the floor and one coming down from the ceiling. There was another opening in front of her, but to far up to reach it. She tightened her gloves and grabbed onto the smaller of the two poles, but found she could get onto it the way she wanted. She looked over at the other one, her mind trying to work this little stop through.

She did the same, trying to get a grip on it, but found she couldn't. There were several more handholds on the left side of the wall. She walked over to them, climbing unsteadily off the wall. She then pushed off the wall backwards, one foot barely catching the tip of the pole. She stuck her arms out, trying to regain her balance as she tipped slightly, keeping the perch she had on the pole. Balancing on top of the narrow tip gave her a moment of fright, then she tried her best to jump over to the opening, one leg slipping as she landed.

She pulled up and looked around, the only interesting thing was a switch in the back of the room. She pulled it, then heard a loud crash from the water filled chamber. She carefully made her way back down, seeing that the large stone crate had fallen onto he second floor walkway. She got on top of it and then jumped to the next even higher opening.

Here she stood in triumph, looking over the Temple of Bastet and the pool of water in front of it. In the doorway in this little alcove was a switch, and she pulled it. She watched as the floor around the cat statue fell away, revealing another passageway underneath. She looked around, wondering how she could easily make it back down into the chamber.

Her eyes fell on the pool of water. She tightened her gloves, then leapt forward in a swan dive position. She cut cleanly into the water, coming up with a big smile on her face-

-but was quickly filled with panic as she saw another crocodile coming up from the depths. She swam over and pulled herself out, hopping up onto the platform of the statue. She looked down into the opening, seeing a sandy incline and…well more sand.

She jumped down, then slid down the incline and started down the long, narrow passage. She tried reading some of the old inscriptions along the wall, not able to make them out in such poorly lit conditions. She did notice however, that there were a large number of Black Panther drawings, which she noted in the back of her mind.

At the end of he passageway, the room opened up spaciously, with a large column and platform in the middle of the room, and three closed cages at the bottom of the room. She saw a sleeping panther in the corner of the room. With the advantage point that she had, she drew her pistols and easily took care of it. She lowered herself down easily-

-and froze as she heard all of the cage doors open. She must have accidentally tripped something going down. She eyed each one precariously, waiting for any sort of movement, her hands rested on her hips. She took a step forward-

-and drew her pistols as two of the panthers came running out from one of the cages. And then two more followed them and then two more out of the third and final cage. Lara's palms began to sweat as the six large, hungry feral cats started to circle around her, growling and hissing. The one closest to her swiped at her, its head almost was touching the ground.

She stepped back, then leapt forward. The cats stirred up into frenzy as she hit the ground running, trying to get to the other side of the room to put the large pillar between her and the animals. She grabbed the shotgun, pumping it once to eject the casing.

She caught it, saw that it was not spent, then loaded it back into the shotgun. She slid into a 180 spin, aiming up the shotgun. The cats were already racing toward her, one leaping at her with claws extended. She pulled the trigger, emaciating the cat in a spew of gore.

She pumped it, another cat jumping at her. She ducked and it crashed into the steel door of the cage. She quickly unholstered her pistol and fired once, killing him on the spot. She holstered that and began running sideways, the cats trying to circle her. She fired again, clipping two of them. She had to duck again as another jumped at her.

She turned and fired at it while it was above her. He crashed to the ground, twitching and spasming. The final three cats grouped up, trying to corner Lara the best that they could. The one closest to her leaped, and she raised the shotgun in defense. It knocked her to the ground, and she felt the other two start clawing and biting at her feet. She elbowed the larger one on top of her, causing it to shake its head and cringe its nose in pain. She pumped the shotgun and fired point blank at the two near her feet. They both died on the spot, leaving only the large female to contend with. Her nose was bleeding, and she was staring Lara down. She raised the shotgun and pulled the trigger-

-and heard the dry click of an empty cartridge. The cat immediately started running toward her, and she took off sprinting down the chamber, keeping close to the outside wall. She heard it running behind her, growling each step it took. She grabbed her pistols and jumped up, pivoting in mid air. Everything seemed to slow down as she raised both guns and fired simultaneously, both shots connecting to her head.

The panther barrel rolled, skidding into the stone wall, dead. Lara landed on her feet, both guns smoking. She stood for a moment, taking in several deep breaths, then she looked at her body, finding it free of any new wounds. She chuckled, holstering her pistols and recovering the shotgun.

She reached into her backpack and fished out seven shells to reload, then holstered it as well. She looked up, trying to find where she had dropped herself. Everywhere else was too high for her to reach. She spotted the crevice and walked over to it, jumping back up to the entrance. She then turned and jumped toward the platform going around the middle of the pillar.

There was a passageway here, and she came to a rather dark, empty room. Some sand was over in a dark corner, underneath an opening way out of her reach. There was an opening directly ahead as well as trapdoor above the sand. She kept that in mind, then headed across the room, vaulting up through the opening. Here was a ladder that went up, a small square opening at the top. Light was pouring in through the gap, along with an occasional breeze. She finished the climb and pulled herself up-

-and had to dive to the right into a pile of sand as a mummy leapt at her, a high pitch squeal erupting from its mouth. She tried getting back to her feet, kicking up a cloud of dust. She heard the mummy scream again, and she drew her pistols, firing blindly into the cloud of dry sand. She heard several shot connect-

-then had to roll quickly back down near the ladder to avoid being pounced as the mummy jumped at her again. She saw light forming above its head, and it raised its long arms, then hurled a ball of flame toward Lara. She ducked as it chipped piece of a wall behind her, exploding.

She had drew the shotgun and began a steady rhythm of firing and pumping the powerful weapon, taking bits off the ancient monster before it finally began stumbling around, dazed and dying.

She swiftly kicked it in the abdomen, sending it sprawling through the opening in the floor and crashing to the stone ground below, breaking and twisting in a pile of dried bones and muscle. She holstered her weapons and gazed around the room, her eyes focusing on the giant ornate scarab weight hanging on the wall. It shimmered in the light that came in through an opening in the ceiling.

She rubbed her fingers along the metal, feeling the texture. It was made almost entirely out of rare blue gold. She smiled, nodding at the magnificent work of art. There was a large opening next to the scarab, with another ladder going upward.

She ascended it, a light sweat forming along her brow. She wiped it away, keeping focused on the task at hand. The passageway took a left, and opened up above the room with the six statues of the King's. She could now spy another alcove on the opposite side of the room that immediately turned left. She looked back toward the statues, and saw that she could make her way over to the opening if she carefully crossed the room on top of the enormous statues.

The wall jutted out above each one, creating a tiny platform above each. As long as she kept her balance, traversing shouldn't be too big of a deal. She jumped toward the closest one, part of the platform breaking away. She grabbed onto the rest of it, her body dangling precariously.

She glanced back, realizing the fall was actually enough to kill her. She pulled up, regaining her position. She jumped toward the next statue, tipping backward as she landed.

She leaned forward then followed up by a jump, landing dangerously on the last statue she needed to be on. The opening wasn't too far away, and she jumped toward it with one leg extended, landing smoothly. She smoothed her top and took the left, seeing a switch on the wall ahead.

The left wall were actually metal bars, and she could peer back into the sand filled room with the ornate scarab on the wall. She pulled the lever, and saw the sand quickly start disappearing. What was left underneath was an opening leading back down into a previous chamber. She saw the sand had piled high enough to reach the opening to high to reach before.

The metal bars also retracted, allowing her easier access back into the room. She hopped down, then lowered herself down on the pile of sand that had fallen through.

Here she found that she could reach the opening easily, and followed through with making her way through it. This dark, winding passage was pretty narrow, and there were some scorpions that she had to squish. Finally she came out into a brightly-lit room. It was relatively empty, with large double doors opposite her, decorate with a giant golden scarab.

In from of the door aligned neatly in a semi-circle were five pillars, each made of reddish colored sandstone. She strolled over to them, eyeing the sides that faced the door. They were each decorated with a picture of an Egyptian offering different items. Carved into the doorway above the doors was some hieroglyphics that she could barely make out.

**Give the gift of gold, then the way will be shown**

She was puzzled at first, then inspected each pillar more carefully. On the far left one was the offering of shelter, with an Egyptian poor man knelt down offering a small white tent. The one next to that was the offering of death, with the man knelt holding the Gold Book of Khamoon.

The one in the center was the offering of life, with the man knelt holding the black Book of the Dead. The one to the right of the center was the offering of rest, with the man knelt holding a canopic jar. The last and far right one was no offering, with the pillar blank. The puzzled seemed simple enough, but maybe a little too easy. She walked over to the pillar carved it the gold book, and tried moving it.

It didn't budge in the least. She looked it up and down, then looked around the room. In the four corners of the room there was a switch with a picture above them. Each one was inscribed with ancient text, so she walked over and pulled the one closest to her.

The middle pillar rose up. She smiled, then flipped the switch again to reset the puzzle. She walked over to the switch that would correspond with the correct pillar and pulled. Sure enough, the pillar offering death rose up from the ground, revealing handholds near the base. She walked over and now found she could rotate it easily. She spun it around until it clicked, then it slowly retracted back into the floor. She heard mechanical sounds and gears moving underneath her feet-

-and the large doors slowly opened up, dust floating lightly in the air. She felt excitement in the pit of her stomach at the prospect of more unexplored areas. She pressed onward.


	12. Chapter 11: Obelisk of Khamoon

For those of you still reading this, sorry it took so long! Gaaahh I slack to much! I hope you like this anyway and please review!

Chapter 11

**Obelisk of Khamoon**

The faint smell of freshwater came to her nose, making the back of her throat feel dry. The short passageway opened up into a bright, airy chamber. There was a huge stone and gold decorate obelisk in the center of the room, the monument rising high into the air, going past the opening in the ceiling and into the outside light. There was no telling how big it was. Giant heart-shaped green leaves were snaking in through the opening, adding a touch of color to the gray and sandy colored stones. One each side of the obelisk was a drawbridge, each raised, and a passageway leading into darkness. She looked up and realized that she was actually under a second floor.

She stepped closer to the raised bridge, and saw that each passageway except for the one she was under cause she couldn't see and the one on the left wall had a switch, also had a passageway. The switch was set into an ornate section of the wall, and she figured that there was another switch above her.

She looked down and saw that the area around the base of the obelisk was filled with crystal blue water, reflecting beautiful ripples along the walls. She looked around the alcove she was in, spying a switch to the right. Above it was an ancient painting of the Eye of Horus. She walked over and pulled it, the switch requiring two hands. The ground beneath her rumbled, and she saw one of the raised bridges start falling forward, crashing to a halt in a cloud of dust and rocks.

Thankfully it was the bridge connected to this passageway. She walked over to the central obelisk, spying an object in a small crevice. She reached in and pulled it out, seeing that it was a stone carving of the Eye of Horus, about the size of her fist. She placed it into her backpack and looked around, seeing no where else to go but down.

"The water looks refreshing anyway…" She mumbled, figuring her next destination could be a spike filled deathtrap instead of a simple dive into the water below. She lowered herself down on the bridge, then released her grip, falling only for a few seconds before the icy cold water engulfed her body. She surfaced, taking in a large gasp of air.

There was an opening down here, with a dark passageway beyond. She could hear the sound of something incredibly large and heavy crashing into the stone walls over and over in a 1-2 rhythm. She pulled herself out of the water and struck a flare, inching down the dark corridor. Finally, as the sounds grew louder and more intense, she found the source. After taking a sharp left she stopped abruptly, seeing two thick stone slabs coming out of the walls, slamming together with bone shattering force. The floor underneath the trap was full of holes and cracks, allowing tiny glimpses of a dark void below.

She waited until the stone walls had finished the cycle, then made a flying leap across, feeling the wind from the force as they closed together just as she cleared.

She smiled, turning right down the passage. But her pride quickly diminished as another wall trap came into view, this time on set right after the other.

This would be a little trickier. She studied them, hoping to find a certain pattern. The first set would slam close, and then actually start to open before the second set would slam. She waited until the first trap was opening, then stepped into the tiny space. It was only a few seconds, but it felt forever before she could finally hop past the second trapping, missing the first by inches. Again she was lucky to be alive. At the end of the corridor she came into a dark room, which was all crumbling from age.

She looked up an saw that the chamber actually ascended several stories, with color paintings of Egyptian women and Pharaoh's dressed in white and gold. In the back of the room was a small staircase, fallen through thanks to time and weathering.

She saw a golden throne lying upside down in a pile of rubble, figuring that this must be Khamoon's Throne Room. On the wall behind the stone square plinth at the top of the stairs was an icon, accented with a golden ring. She stood on the plinth and jumped over to it, her weight bringing the icon down. Behind her she heard stone moving, and leapt back to the stairs. A column had slid into a cubbyhole on hidden hinges.

She watched it for a moment, and was then surprised to see it rise up back into the air. She pulled down the icon again, then ran over and stood atop the pillar. It quickly shot her up into the air, making her level with a large structure in the center of the throne room.

There was a pole protruding from the wall to her left, and she spied several cracks in the old stone wall that she could use to make it over to the center of the room without risking the deadly plunge to the cold, dark ground below. She did so, spinning once on the pole and grabbing the crack with ease. As she neared the ledge, however, the rock began to crumble, and her grip began to falter. She pulled herself up just as a large section of stone broke away, shattering as it hit the ground below.

Here there were several pillars, each made with a hole in the center of them, which was quite peculiar. She reached up and pulled herself up on top of the pillar, a swooshing sound immediately filling the quiet chamber. Now she saw why holes had been carved. On the left and right walls were two tiny, hidden holes, each one now shooting tiny wooden darts.

She must have triggered it unknowingly somehow. She looked up and saw the ledge she was trying to reach was still quite a ways up, and the sun coming in from a square opening in the ceiling was causing her to perspire, making her uncomfortable. She saw on the north wall of the chamber was a gigantic, color painting of several Egyptian's surrounding a beautiful woman dressed in white. The Pharaoh, who was the closest to a woman, had a golden idol on the top of his hat. She peered closer and saw that the idol part was actually 3-D and protruded from the wall. At the moment it wasn't too useful, but she had to get over there to reach the very top ledge of the huge throne room. A blocky, U-shaped platform was jutting out of the wall only a short hop from the pillar she was on. She proceeded to leap over to it-

-and was caught off guard as the platform slowly began to retract into the wall. She lost her balance, one leg slipping from the quickly disappearing platform. The rough rock scraped against her thigh, a sharp pain shooting up her entire left side. She scrambled back up and quickly tossed her grappling hook toward the ring on the pictogram on the wall, hooking it the first time.

Now or never, she jumped from the now last tiny section of the platform and ran laterally toward the wall, clearing the large space quickly. At the end she unhooked the grapple and grabbed onto a wooden pole that was jutting from the wall. She looked up and saw now her destination was almost reachable.

Besides ascending this room was wearing her muscles out and causing her to feel fatigued. She hooked her foot on a crack in the wall, then kicked up, taking a once only chance at grabbing the lip of a broken ledge above her. She caught it with one hand, struggling at first to reach around with her other hand to steady her grip, and then she pulled herself up.

She took in a deep breath, wiping beads of sweat from her forehead. She took a peek down the throne room, the height nauseatingly creating a slight dizzy feeling, which would probably cause other people to completely freak out. She turned and started down the dank corridor, hearing another wall trap in the distance. As she rounded the left corner she stopped, awing in mild disbelief. Even though she had cleared many traps before, including several on this adventure, this looked the toughest so far. There were three vertical poles, each one with about five inches of space on top. The poles extended vertically into darkness with no telling how far the blackness extended. Periodically spinning blades would come out of a horizontal slit in the wall, making traversing the hallway even more dangerous.

"_Okay…I can do this…"_

She tightened her gloves and the laces on her shoes, then after willing some more courage, she jumped out as soon as the blades slid smoothly back into the wall, overshooting a little to much as she landed. She leaned forward precariously, her one foot dangerously close to slipping off the tiny pole top. She regained her balance, however, and stood back up from a crouched position. She jumped to the middle pole, landing more gracefully this time.

She jumped the last, then waited and jumped past the slamming doors and into freedom. She stood up, seeing that she was now on a ledge at the very top of the enormous central obelisk. She looked down, the water at the bottom looking very minute. The hot Egyptian sun was flooding in through the large opening in the top, many snarled vines snaking in around the corners. There was a switch as well up here, and she pulled it. There was a slight rumbling, and she saw two more bridges fall from their raised position toward the obelisk.

"_Three down now, one more to go. Pretty good for a Brit gal I'd say…"_

She saw three other ledges around her, one with a now open passageway thanks to pulling the switch and one with a large inscription.

Here is entombed Khamoon, forever loyal to hide the Abused piece of the Scion deep within his Sanctuary.

Lara smiled, feeling a few steps closer to an incredible discovery and one step closer to the third and final piece of this artifact. The final ledge was simply for decoration, with more pictograms and Egyptian hieroglyphs. She hooked her grapple to a few jagged cracks near the opening in the ceiling and swung herself over to the passageway. She was now very thankful Winston had decided to offer this hook to take on this adventure, and wished him well.

Again she heard the wall traps in the distance, and was also now fully assured that the Egyptian culture were the most advanced in their time for making deadly traps, and for the first time Lara doubted her ability to succeed.

She turned a few corridors, striking a flare to illuminate the darkness. The trap came into view, and her jaw fell open. It was similar to the last trap, with three vertical pillars and spinning blades that would come out of the walls, but now at each pole there was a slamming wall trap, and each would slam close after another, with only about two seconds in between and about four seconds in between each recession. Her stomach quivered slightly, but not enough to jar her nerves of steel. Not to mention when Natla found out Pierre was dead and that she had taken the second piece of the Scion, she would no doubt be out to find her.

"_With Larson tagging along for the ride I'm sure…"_

She focused back on the trap, trying to shield her eyes from the dust and occasional flying piece of rock. She tossed the flare over to the far ledge, then did a couple stretches before attempting this impossible feat. She waited until the pattern had started over, then as soon as the first wall had slammed closed she jumped forward, the perching becoming a little less strenuous each time she did it. The second wall trap opened up, and she hurriedly hopped over to the second pillar. She heard the sound of mechanical gears shifting, signaling that the blades would soon retract from inside the wall.

The final wall slammed closed, then began to repeat. She jumped toward the third pillar awkwardly, quickly slipping. She wrapped her arms around the pole, holding on to it for dear life. She felt her self slowly slipping, the wall above her slamming again.

She kept pushing away panicked thoughts, reaching out to see if she could reach the ledge. Surprisingly she was able to touch the hard rock, and maneuvered around the pillar to where she could reach over and pull herself on the ledge. The next chamber opened up, different types of insects flying around in the sunlight coming in through crevices in the ceiling. The walls were covered in decorate horizontal slits, something Lara figured couldn't be good.

A big carving of the Egyptian god Anubis was carved on the rock ceiling, which was very crafty. She looked to the left and saw a bronze ring weight. She walked over and pulled down on it, and the chamber was suddenly alive with the rhythmic sound of swooshing blades, and she saw along the horizontal splits were now sliding and rotating blades.

She saw further toward the bottom of the huge room was another passageway, and at the very bottom she spied several of the mummy creatures, waiting for her to fall. She saw at a brightly-lit corner of the room there was an opening and a short tunnel going downward. She waited until the blades had passed and then crouched down and grabbed the lit of the opening, and started shimmying to the right, keeping her eye on the blade.

As it started to slide back toward her, she dropped down a few inches and grabbed a natural made crack in the wall, and made her way over to the corner, where she used chipped pieces of the wall as handholds to climb back up to the ledge. She dusted off her knees and turned the corner down the tunnel-

-and jumped back as a fireball came flying toward her, causing her to dive to the ground. The wall behind her exploded, and she focused her eyes in front of her. There was another mummy standing there, hunched over with it's mouth open. She stood up and drew the shotgun, firing several powerful blasts into the creature. It pounced forward, long arms extended.

She raised the shotgun to try and shield herself, but both of them fell to the ground, Lara on her back and the monster snarling on top. She felt for a pistol and pulled it from the holster, firing several shots point blank into the things head. Several sprays of dark crimson colored the ceiling of the tiny area.

She kicked the dead carcass away, quickly leaving the closed in space. The passageway ended in a drop off, requiring Lara to drop down and shimmy to the right, avoiding another spinning blade in the process. Here she could drop down onto a small lip jutting out from the wall.

The mummies she had seen earlier were no where to be seen. The passage was now directly across from her, all it would require would be a short jog across the bottom of the chamber, granted anything wasn't lurking around in the shadows. She stepped down, keeping her hands resting at her hips as she moved across the room. The she heard it, a deep, low growl from a corner. In a quick second she decided to start sprinting, already halfway across.

The she saw a blur of white-hot light speed bast her, exploding as soon as it made contact with the stone wall. She ducked, keeping up her sprint. She drew a pistol and fired several shot blindly behind her, hearing most of the hit the wall, but several hitting the mummies. She jumped up, clearing the ledge and continuing to sprint down the hallway. Light hit her eyes, so did the smell of fresh air. She was back in the central obelisk room. There was a huge metal grate blocking off access to the room, and a switch on the left wall. She pulled it, the grate retracting into the ceiling.

The fourth and final bridge fell toward the monument, finally allowing access to all of its contents. She couldn't help but smile, diving into the much-needed cool water.

On the far wall was a ladder that led back up to the first story of the obelisk, and also able Lara to take the goodies Khamoon had waiting for her. After the strenuous climb, she obtained the first artifact she could reach, which was the Scarab of Osiris, made from blue gold. She hopped over to the next bridge and claimed the Seal of Anubis. The last trinket was the Ankh of Isis.

As she took the last item she heard something moving from underneath the obelisk. She saw bubbles rise from the water below, and dived back in. A metal grating had opened, allowing access to new tunnels. She took in several deep breaths, then as much as her lungs could hold, sucked in and dived underneath, squeezing through the tiny opening. She lit a flare, thankful they were waterproof, and took the first tunnel she came to, swimming through the crisp, clear water with ease.

Next there was a left or right turn, and she chose left, seeing light shining at a right turn at the end. She pushed a little harder, the rushing sound of water deafening in her ears. A strange fish was startled and in a cloud of dust quickly swam away as she approached it. She took the right turn, seeing an opening in the water. She swam faster, realizing she was in a small little room. Through the opening was a tiny, dark chamber with a ledge and a ladder leading up to a closed door, with a switch the left of the ladder. She pulled it, the entire room shaking.

"_Something heavy is moving above…"_

After everything went quiet, she climbed up the ladder, taking in her surroundings. Things began to feel familiar as she saw the huge stone statues of the kings, and the opened panther cages.

"Well, this brings back memories…" She whispered. It had felt like ages since she had been in here. The she remembered the area where she had first seen the mummy monsters, with the two sphinx statues. There had been a smaller obelisk in a pool of water in between the statues, with an indention to place something on each side. And then there had been those huge double doors… She must be able to pass through them now!

She hurried back through the kings room and into the sun soaked main chamber, her eyes falling first on what she wanted, the obelisk. She walked over to it, pulling the four items from her backpack and placing them in the corresponding places. The double doors slowly swung open, just as she had thought. She saw a huge grand staircase, each step lined in gold. At the top she could barely spy four grand looking pillars.

"This must be it…This must be the Scion's sanctuary…" She whispered, feeling butterflies in the pit of her stomach. She quickly pressed onward.


	13. Chapter 12: Sanctuary of the Scion

Finished this pretty quick since it took SOOOO long to get from Temple of Khamoon to Obelisk of Khamoon. And look, its actually not a short chapter to! Please enjoy!

Chapter 12

**Sanctuary of the Scion**

Just as she would have figured, the large elegant double doors closed soon after she had started up the grand staircase. The walls were covered in all sorts of chants and warnings of vengeance on those who remove any of the contents from this sanctuary. She heard a shuffling as she neared the top of the steps, and was instantly in combat mode.

A mummy suddenly sprang from the shadows, Lara backflipping down several steps, weapons ready. A second creature dropped from a square opening in the middle of the ceiling, beginning to summon a fireball. The closest one let out an unearthly, deep snarl, a clear, sticky drool pooling from its fang filled mouth. She opened fired, keeping a steady stride backward.

"_Oh god, no where to hide…"_

She ran back out into the main chamber, looking between the sphinx and the pool of water. Another howl forced her around the sphinx statue, climbing as hastily as she could up to the shoulder of the massive statue. The two creatures came running out, looking around the vast area.

"_Jump…or fire from here…?"_

She holstered her pistols and took a firm grip on the shotgun, getting as low to the ground as possible. Several pebbles chipped away from the old stone, causing both monsters to turn in her direction. She sprang off the statue and landed on top of the closest, and bigger of the monsters. She kicked it to the ground, quickly firing several blasts into its abdomen.

It screamed out in pain, a sort of demonic wail you'd imagine to hear in hell. She quickly focused her attention on the next one, already infuriated at the death of its comrade. The bandaged whelp of rotten muscle lunged toward her with lightning quickness-

-and was on top of Lara in a second. The shotgun slipped from her grasp, sliding several feet away. She reached up and grabbed underneath the chin of the thing, quickly un-holstering a pistol with her other hand. She pressed it against its temple and squeezed her eyes closed, turning her head away before she pulled the trigger.

The thing screamed for a brief moment, then slowly squirmed to a stop before settling down dead. She kicked it off, walking over and cupping some water from the small oasis. She wiped off her face and neck, then her thighs and calves. She took several sips, then walked over and retrieved the shotgun.

"_Now, back to business…"_

She walked back over and continued up the staircase, examining the four pillars at the top. They each had handholds, and the stone around the base looked as if the pillars could rotate. She grabbed hold of the one to her left, the pillar requiring two hands and a bit more effort than Lara thought to start the column moving. As it did all of the others rotated as well-

-and a stone square pillar rose up from the center of the room, extending up into the square opening in the ceiling. She walked over and looked up, seeing a ladder and a passageway going further in. She jumped up and grabbed a stone lip the went around the length of the column, pulling herself up until she could anchor her feet onto the lip and pull herself up onto the top of the pillar. She reached over and latched onto the ladder, climbing up it. The corridor turned left, sharply, and the distinct sound of the deafening walls slamming could be heard.

Realizing that this _was_ her only choice, she continued on bravely, taking in her full surrounding when she turned the corner. The floor basically stopped, an endless void extending down the length of the hall. She could see remnants of a ledge at the end-her destination. There were two slamming walls here, spaced evenly down the hall. There were numerous cracks along the walls, signaling some sort of huge tremor must have rocked this section of Egypt sometime ago.

Also on the wall were two scarab weights, each one designed to slide down when weight was applied. Which meant she could only hang on to them for about five seconds, max. She waited until the first wall was retracting, and jumped to the remnant of the floor still clinging to the stone wall.

It immediately started to crumble, and she latched on to some of the cracks on the wall. She started moving to the right, the first scarab weight needing to be used. She quickly reached over and grabbed on to it, looking behind her. She jumped off from the wall and pivoted 180 degrees, grabbing on to the second weight. It immediately started to slide downward, causing her to jump upward to grab a small, rigged crack above the weight.

Here, she could jump through the second slamming walls behind her to the ledge, leading to another corridor. She waited until it was clear, the slamming causing her ears to ring. She jumped, the trap nicking the end of her braid. Here the passageway was short, the cave opening up very expansively, but with something _**huge**_blocking her view.

She walked over to the left of it, a ladder leading all the way down to the ground. She straightened her belt and holsters and started the descent down, the trip down much longer than she would have imagined. At the bottom, she was breathing harder, a few beads of perspiration trickling down the side of her cheek. She wiped them away, eager to see what exactly she had been standing on. She could soon see a paw, then an arm and shoulder, then head. She came around to the front, the underground cave illuminated by a giant, jagged hole in the rock way above.

Sunlight was coming through and making the monument, which she could now see was an enormous sphinx statue, almost sort of glow. There was another grand staircase leading up to the chest of the sphinx, where a door covered in gold and decorative hieroglyphics was at. On each side was a decorate opening, where an Ankh shaped opening was set into.

She looked on the far left and right walls, seeing remains of old Egyptian architecture. There were several large columns, and two small buildings, each sealed off. Next to each shrine was a switch, presumably to open the corresponding passageway. Directly across from the sphinx was a ladder, giving her access to go either to the left or right. Seeing as there were two Ankh's to be found, she'd have to go both ways anyway.

"_Eeny, meeny, miny, moe…"_

"Left it is then…" She started toward the ladder, the sheer size of the room mind boggling to her. To that sphinx, she must look like an ant, or a flea. The entire cave and remaining structures were unstable, creating several hazards and holes for her to dodge, but she made it to the first switch, pulling it with triumph. The door slid open, a cold breeze quickly flowing from inside. She rubbed her arms, taking the short steps up to the shrine two at a time.

She walked briskly down the corridor, turning left then right, before opening up into a magnificent puzzle room. She was at the very top, near the sun soaked opening in the ceiling, looking down at the entire room. There were four sandy stone colored obelisks, one at each corner of the room. The tips of each were huge, shimmering white diamonds, creating dazzling light effects on the wall.

Protruding from the opening was another obelisk, this time with the diamond pointing downward. A switch was set into the wall beside her, and in an adventurous high pulled it, being thrilled at exploring all of these beautiful catacombs.

The ornate obelisk in the ceiling slowly slid downward, the tip catching the sun at an angle to where it reflected in beautiful rainbow beams four ways, each glowing ray striking a tip of all the other obelisks. This started something moving, and she saw a doorway open in the wall, followed by a bridge coming from one side of the chamber to the other, creating a bridge to the door.

Inside, she saw a golden Ankh set on a beautiful pedestal. She hung herself down over the ledge, dropping onto the newly created bridge. The light show the obelisks now created was something wonderful to behold, truly a once in a lifetime sight. She entered the chamber confidently, her brown eyes set on the relic. She reached out and snatched it from its resting place on the pedestal-

-and the door behind her started to close, the ceiling now covered in spikes and quickly advancing toward her. She dropped to the ground and log rolled, getting clear of the door just in time. It was impossible to reach the upper ledge again, but a path had opened below, where there was about seven feet of water. She dived in, the water warm and relaxing from the sun above.

She paddled over to the opening, where she followed the connecting corridor back out into the Sphinx' Chamber. As she rounded the edge of the statues, she heard a sound distinctly familiar yet incredibly out of place.

…_Hooves?"_

Suddenly, a giant blur _jumped_ over top of her, sending her colliding to the ground. She scrambled up, turning to see what the huge animal was. She was stunned, the mystical creature rearing up and screaming, and animalistic hungry sound. It was like the Centaur creatures she had fought in Tihocan's tomb, only slightly smaller and not wearing the ancient armor. It's lower half, which looked like a skinned horse, was only topped by something more disturbing, the mysterious creature the mummies had been. But this one didn't look dried and rotten, but stronger and…_juicier._

She instantly had the shotgun in hand, firing at the beast that was already galloping toward her. She dived out of the way, the thing swiping at her with a claw-filled hand. She stood back up, counting each shot mentally to keep track.

"_Five, six, seven, eight…"_

_**Click!**_

_**Click!**_

She pumped the shotgun again, the eighth and final casing flying out.

"_Not enough time to reload…"_

She tossed the shotgun to the side, drawing her pistols. The centaur tried delivering a

powerful kick from its hind legs, Lara spinning to avoid the blow.

"_That could have been me…!"_

She kept firing simultaneously, the bullets starting to take effect. It howled again, its front legs falling to the ground. Her mind was spinning, but she seized this opportunity and used its body as a ramp, running up its lowered heard and springing forward from the rear, pivoting in the air and firing, the monster falling down dead. She holstered the pistols and removed her backpack, checking to see how many shotgun shells were left. She counted a total of fourteen, which wasn't too bad. It would reload the weapon once fully, leaving six powerful shots left.

"_Which reminds me, that thing took eight blasts and still didn't fall!"_

She retrieved the shotgun and walked over to examine the fall centaur, a putrid smell wafting up from the dead carcass. Once again, its face, although odd and alien, was still a horrifying sight. Its mouth was agape, revealing two full rows of razor sharp teeth. The creature lacked any skin, the thick, meaty red muscle on the outside tough and durable.

She shook her head, just hoping she wouldn't see any more of them. She ascended the ladder for the second time, this time choosing the right path instead of the left.

She pulled the switch, and like before the stone door slid open, allowing access to the small shrine. This corridor was thankfully free of traps, and she entered the next puzzle room with ease. It was an exact replica, with four diamond tipped obelisks in each corner of the water fill chamber, with a fifth one coming from the ceiling.

There was also another switch, which she pulled for the same reaction as the first room. The bridge slid smoothly over to the now opening door, and she saw the second golden Ankh sitting on the pedestal. She lowered herself down, this time approaching the room with more caution.

She heard slight shuffling, and didn't have time to react as a mummy jumped from the back of the room, leaping over the pedestal easily. She slid to the left, delivering two fatal blows from the shotgun to kill it. She took the second Ankh, hearing another door open from the next room.

She placed the trinket in her backpack with the other, the items inside slowly making the brown leather bag heavier. The weight was reassuring somehow, and she smiled as she slipped it on. Now with the two Ankh's in possession, she made her way back from the puzzle room all the way to the main cavern; a feeling of triumph flowing through her veins.

"_Tomb raiding at its finest…"_

She ascended the grand staircase leading up to the monument, removing both Ankh's and placing them in each corresponding place. The large stone door slid open smoothly, the passageway deep and dark. She lit a flare, seeing that the floor slowly slanted downward, meaning that she might possibly be going deeper underneath the mountain now. With her stomach quivering, she began the long descent down through the sphinx' tunnels, finally coming to a long stretch with light at the end, apparently coming in from an opening in the cave above. She jogged the rest of the way, slowing as she reached the several steps down to a platform, overlooking a magnificent find.

"…My god…"

Here eyes fell first on the two absolutely enormous statues situated beside each other, facing in her direction. The one on the left was of the Egyptian god Anubis, while the other was of the Egyptian god Horus, each sitting in a stone throne. The next thing she realized was that each statue was completely submerged under crystal blue water, at least a couple hundred gallons of water to be exact. She blinked several times, a slight sound coming from her throat. It was positively beautiful, wishing now that she had brought some sort of camera along.

"Wow…" She whispered, wishing Winston could see this.

Carved into the stone above each statue were their names, outlined wonderfully in jade and gold. There was a platform and a passageway above the statue, but unfortunately it was too high for her to reach.

"_Unless I can manipulate the water level somehow…"_

She looked around, the only thing of interest that she could see being a large golden ring above Horus' head.

"_Maybe."_

She dived into the crisp water below, the rushing sound of the liquid tingling her senses as it surrounded her. She surfaced near the statue, finding a good, solid place near his shoulder to hoist herself up on. Here she pulled down on the golden ring weight, the sound of running water coming from somewhere deep within the cavern.

She eyed the water level, seeing it slowly rise up to a more desirable level. Looking over, she now saw that the passageway was reachable, and she did so, diving back into the water and swimming over to it. The path was short, turning to a much longer stretch of hallway. Here she could spy a grand-looking room, covered in crimson and turquoise royal pillars, rising up high to the ceiling of the room. At the far end she saw a blocked off doorway, massive in both size and length. She picked up her pace, feeling more excited as she approached.

"_Now we're getting somewhere Ms. Croft…"_

She chuckled to herself, hearing an old mentor's accent in her head as she said the name Ms. Croft. It wasn't long, however, until her smile faltered. She heard the sound of many different things running from the shadows, from clawed feet to hooves, each coming with speed and agility. She drew the shotgun, preparing herself for a rocking gunfight.

Then, coming from both sides were two of the mummy monsters, two centaurs, and oddly enough two bat like creatures, looking just as skinned, huge and just terrifying as its land crawling comrades. With no particular target in mind, she opened fired, sending a spray of bullets across the enemies.

They didn't stop.

She broke into a sprint, curving sharply to the right as she continued to fire at the ravenous creatures. A centaur leaped at her, a mummy sending a red hot fireball spiraling in her direction. She spun around to take cover behind a pillar, pumping the shotgun and counting quickly in her head.

"_Two shots left…better load the last six…"_

She did so, breaking into another sprint across the massive chamber, the creatures focusing back in on her. She turned and started firing, doing a quickly backflip to avoid a dangerous swipe from the bat monster.

She drew a pistol with her free hand and opened fired, emptying her clip on both of the flying abominations. They spun to the ground, crashing into one of the mummies, killing it and finishing off the bat-things.

She then returned to the remaining mummies and the two centaurs, which were now howling in anger and drooling with cannibalistic hunger. The closest centaur tried to back kick her, missing her and instead colliding with one of the pillars.

She ducked down, finished the rounds of the shotgun into the three monsters. The mummy was obliterated, disappearing in a cloud of coagulated blood and severed limbs. She holstered the weapon, now realizing her pistols wouldn't be enough to take down the two centaurs.

She began running toward the blocked off chamber, looking around for anything that she could use. She stumbled, falling hard to the hard ground below, he shoulder scraping against the rough stone painfully. She heard something slid along the ground, and looked up to see that the two pieces of the Scion had slid from their pouch in her backpack.

She went to reach for them, but was halted and taken by surprise when the centaurs suddenly knelt down to the ground, stopping their thunderous run toward her. Lara was frozen at first, mystified at the creature's strange behavior. The took the moment to quickly draw both pistols and fire point blank into each of their heads, both instantly falling to the ground.

"_The Scion…they had no choice but to bow to it…Is it really __**that**__ powerful…?"_

She saw that on each side of the gate was a circular indention, with a name above each one carved in Egyptian hieroglyphs.

"_Wait…Qualopec and Tihocan…?"_

Surely enough, the name of each of the rulers was above each indention, and then it hit her.

"_I can use the corresponding piece of the Scion…!"_

She did so, the Scion pieces activating something deep within the wall. The iron bars were quickly removed, now allowing Lara access to the tomb ahead. On a pedestal risen high in the middle of the room was the third and final piece of the Scion. She reached out to grab it, stopping so close she could almost feel the smooth, cool metal.

"_Is this a good idea…?"_

She remembered Natla, and her cruel cold tone.

"_Lara would never part with the Scion, she's far to obsessed with it…"_

And even though Natla hired her, she already had Larson and probably more goons coming to look for her. Risking the odds, she grabbed the piece, everything quiet at first-

-then suddenly the whole room began to quake, a door opening in the far corner. She jumped down from the raising platform and sprinting toward the door, dark caves and tunnels going by in a hastened blur as she fled from the Sanctuary of the Scion.

Lara skidded to a halt, coming out on a cliffside deep in the Egyptian terrain. Down at the bottom of the canyon was a river, flowing out into the ocean. she removed Tihocan and Qualopec's pieces of the Scion from her backpack, and took the piece she had taken from the Sanctuary and locked it in together with the rest.

A bright light burst forth from the artifact, and suddenly Lara felt weightless again as she was transported to another place in time and history. She heard people talking in the distance as solid ground hit her feet, and the foggy haze cleared. She saw she was on top of a giant pyramid that was the center of an ancient civilization.

"You have tainted the powers of the Scion, broken the sacred order of the Three, and used the pyramid, the powers, for your own mindless destruction!" Barked a deep, male voice.

"Mindless?! Look at you! The Gods favor action, _not _council. Atlantis is in ruin. Nothing can change that. Everything must burn, only then can the Seventh Age be complete." Lara looked at the person crouched at the feet of the two men. The voice was female, and extremely familiar.

"Tihocan is right," started a second man who was no doubt Qualopec, "I expel you from the Triumvirate, and as for you punishment, we're going to lock you in limbo. Make your heart, soul, and that diseased brain stick solid with frozen blood. Greet your eternal unrest Natla!"

Lara's eyes widened as the woman lifted her head.

"You wont rest either or your damn continent Atlantis! I will rise above the dust of your bones to finish what I started!" And as she said that, an ice capsule locked up Natla forever.

Lara again felt weightless and the gray haze returned. Finally, life around her began to shape up. It felt like the Scion began to float from her hands. She blinked several times and saw Natla in front of her, and in her hands the glowing Scion. Lara quickly threw her hands down to draw her pistols, but found her holsters to be empty.

As soon as she realized this, two strong hands grabbed her roughly around the arms, preventing her from running away. Lara cried out, struggling against her captor. He was black, and extremely strong. Larson was standing next to some punk kid who was holding her pistols, smiling. He wasn't a day over 19. She turned to face Natla.

"It was you! You were the Queen of Atlantis!"

Natla stood for a moment with her back facing the henchmen and Lara.

"…Once" She replied casually. Larson and the kid looked at each other in disbelief. If they didn't know her true identity now, they soon will.

"…And the Scion can show you its history…" Lara said slowly.

"Oh it shows far more than that. All the knowledge of the ancients, things none of _you _could even comprehend."

Lara stood for a moment, stunned, then asked. "What is the Seventh Age…?"

There was a short silence, Lara again trying to struggle, then Natla turned and brought her face inches from hers.

"Just how far are you willing to go to find out, Lara?" Natla hissed.

She stood for a moment, her eyes drifting off to think.

"Not far enough I'm afraid." She finished. "Kill her quickly, we have work to do." Natla said, then strode off toward a white limo. Lara's eyes narrowed, feeling a hatred burn up inside her as she watched the woman stroll away.

"I'm gonna enjoy this…" The kid said, raising a pair of Uzi's.

"Enjoy watchin', I'm cuttin' her…" The man behind her said, pulling out a huge army combat knife. One of his arms let go of her for a brief second, and Lara quickly shot a hard elbow to his gut, before quickly uppercutting his chin. She took off sprinting, the kid peppering the ground around her feet with sub-machine gun fire. She jumped up, a boot connecting solidly with the side of his head. She turned-

-then ducked as Larson came at her, intending to slam her head with the butt of the shotgun. She looked, seeing her only escape to be diving from the cliff.

"Risky…but what else…?!" 

She broke into a run, hearing them chase after her; already they were to late. She was only in midair for a moment, sliding smoothly into the water hundreds of feet below. Once again, she had narrowly escaped death. She saw the white limo speed off down the mountainside, Lara quickly forming a plan.

_No way to catch up by running. Swimming-no. My motorcycle! I left it near the entrance to Khamoon's temple!"_

She saw over to a sandbank, running around the corner of the mountainside. Sure enough, her bike was still where she had left it, glistening in the sun like a savior. She hopped on, quickly revving in engine and beginning pursuit. As she sped through the hot Egyptian desert, anger flooded her veins again, trying to keep a mental block on Natla's image and voice.

"_If I don't I might bloody explode…"_

She was royally pissed, and already vowed to make Natla pay, and even trying requiring the Scion in the process. She stuck close to a path that followed near the river, looking up ahead to see the road broken a good ten feet.

"_No choice…gotta do something…"_

She hit the engine full throttle and hit the mountainside at an angle, the bike wobbling dangerously as she cleared the gap. She hit solid ground again, flying into the air as she hit a sand ramp. The mountain curved, and as she rounded it she saw the river widen into the ocean, then spotted a white luxury yacht speeding away from the mountain.

Ditched to the side she also spotted Natla's limo-she'd made it. Almost. The road dead-ended up ahead, and she decided to gun the engine as hard as it would go. She hit with such intensity that she rocked forward, then stood up and swan dived off the bike, propelling herself forward. In midair she reached back and grabbed her grappling hook, throwing it forward. It hooked a railing on the yacht, barely.

"_Bingo!"_

She pulled herself up onto the back of the speeding boat, looking around before spying a hatch on the floor. She quickly and quietly walked over and opened it, seeing a bed and some sheets, as well as a tiny circular window. She heard footsteps approaching, and jumped down into the hole, closing the door behind her. A door opened, and she heard the voice of the black man and the kid, with the man who had captured her speaking first.

"Did you see that?"

"What…?" The kid replied.

"That, over there. I saw something splash."

The kid laughed.

"Probably just a fish."

"That was some fish…" He said sarcastically.

"Man, you have got to learn to chill. I'm going back inside, you comin…?"

"Yeah…"

She heard them walk overheard then return back into the boat. Feeling incredibly fatigued, she lay down on the bundle of sheets, figuring a good nap might be good for what was ahead. Boy was she right.


	14. Chapter 13: Natla's Mines

Chapter 13

**Natla's Mines**

The gentle rocking of the boat slowly stirred Lara awake. She took a peek outside of the tiny window, seeing deep orange and purple streaks painting the horizon. She opened the hatch door, stepping out onto the deck of Natla's yacht. There was an island several yards away, topped with a humongous mountain. Many different types of tropical palm trees dotted the perimeter of the small island, adding a touch of decor to the beige colored rocks.

She vaulted up onto the railing, swan diving into the cold water below. She saw a path-extending deep into the mountain, realizing this was where she needed to be. She paddled as hard as she could, lighting a flare for guidance.

"_What could possibly be of importance here anyway…?"_

She continued her swim through a couple of connecting passageways, stirring several exotic looking fishes from resting on the sandy bottom. They would all swim to one place, and as adventure mode kicked in, she followed them through until she could finally surface in a carnivorous opening, the cavern a shocking turn from the old, ancient tombs she was used to.

There was several cranes hoisting metal crates into the air, with even more in a dark corner and a rowboat tied up next to the shore. There was waterfall in here as well, and aside from several mining lamps attached to the wall, the room was relatively dark and empty. She noticed that most of the crates had the Natla's Industries logo on them.

"_But, there's little evidence left of what was being excavated…"_

She pulled herself ashore, lighting another flare to illuminate her surroundings. She spied several traces of footprints in the loose soil.

"_This is where they came in…"_

She was eager to recover her weapons, and she had to remember that until she did being extra careful and staying on her toes might make the difference between life and death, especially in such a modern environment.

"_I thought tombs were dangerous…"_

She searched as much of the area that she could, but to no avail; they must have taken her equipment somewhere else. She spotted a light shining through the murky water pouring from the waterfall, bringing the touch of a smile to her lips.

"_Ah ha…"_

She dived back into the water, which was oddly enough warm, swimming over to the crashing water. Sure enough, there was a passageway that extending further behind the waterfall, thankfully enough. She followed it up until she found herself on a ledge overlooking the area she had just been in, and now had a short hop over to one of the crates suspended in the air. She did so, seeing another on closer to the waterfall.

As she hopped to it, she felt the old, tired rope holding it up start to stretch and tear. In a quick moment of panic she flung herself forward, catching a hidden lip near the top of the waterfall. She pulled herself up, seeing yet another passageway, this one lit seldomly by the mining lamps hooked to the cave wall.

She followed it deeper into the mountain, the narrow path finally opening up into a much wider space, more traces of mining equipment coming into view. There was a control room overlooking the place, with another crane for moving heavy items and crates. There were iron tracks on the ground, running the length of the cavern. She decided to follow them to the left, several pieces thick metal and long, steel beams lying along the base of the wall; tools and parts to the unfinished second floor walkway also going down the length of the passageway.

She could see some other openings with mining lights above them, but she would work on that a bit later. Finally a building perched up on the rock wall came into view, with a huge tunnel borer beside the tracks. Sitting on the tracks was a mining cart, filled with various debris and rock pieces.

Several large rats were scurrying about, scavenging around the dumpy site for any traces of something to eat. One of them crawled up and snatched something from the cart, something large and red. She ran over and stomped its tail with her foot, the rat squealing. She picked up the item, letting the disgusting creature hurry back to its other mates. She saw it was a red fuse, something that she wasn't too familiar with.

"_The control room…?"_

She pocketed the fuse and headed back toward the main area, using the tracks to get back. She climbed the steps up and inside, a vast control panel coming in site. After a quick check of the cabinets in the back, which proved useless, she examined the control panel, seeing three places to place a switch, and beside each one a button with a specific color; red, green, and blue.

She pulled out the red fuse, placing it in the correct place. A light flashed on above the small button, and she pushed it. A loud, metallic scraping sound filled her ears, and she looked up to see a crate sliding down on one of the cranes above a tiny storage building, revealing another passageway above it.

"_Better than leaping over spike-filled pits just to pull a switch to god knows where."_

Simple. Easy. Tombs filled her need for the adrenaline rush, but at least she wasn't running for her life. She made her way over to the building, pulling a dirty yellow crate over to allow her access to the top of the storage building. Through the dirty glass panes, she spied her pistols, sitting atop a stack of cardboard boxes. She tried kicking through the glass, surprisingly not even cracking it. When a dull ache set into her foot, she finally gave up, tucking her bags behind her ear in frustration.

"_Just you wait Jacqueline…"_

She hoisted herself up onto the roof, walking over to the newly opened passageway. There was a ladder here, a short one, that led down to another short passageway, some light finally helping her see as a mining lamp came into view. At the end was another longer ladder, and at the bottom she finally caught site of an opening. The old wooden ladder made her extremely nervous, causing her to use caution the whole way down; unable to even wipe beads of perspiration that would occasionally drip into her eye.

At the bottom she took her shirt to wipe her face, turning to face where the opening led. There was a ledge and some sort of machinery there, with the blue fuse lying in a cubbyhole. Down below, she saw other bigger machines, some spinning and others lighting up and making odd noises.

The height was tremendous, she grabbed the fuse and hurriedly made her way back up the ladders and through the passageway. Upon returning to the main cavern, she saw more rats had appeared, up to about six of the large, furry creatures. Each one was scurrying around in a different direction, making dozens of tiny squeaking sounds. She hopped down and hurried back into the control room, inserting the fuse in the correct place.

She pressed the corresponding switch, the crane suddenly dropping the heavy crate onto the top of the storage building. The concrete roof crumbled, then collapsed in a crash and cloud of dust. She made her way over to it and inside, digging through the rock and debris until she found both of her pistols and a pack of flares, sticking the flares into her backpack and holstering her pistols back to where the belonged.

The new heaviness now felt familiar, and she could feel a boost of confidence build inside her. She decided to head back to the second control room that had been perched on the cavern wall, probably allowing her to manipulate the tunnel borer.

She drew one of her newly acquired pistols and shot the glass out from the front of the building, watching as the glass shattered and fell to the ground with hundreds of tiny _ping_ sounds. She pulled a rather heavy crate underneath the window, careful to avoid fragment of the broken window. Here there was to many different buttons and controls to count, but one large switch with a tiny picture of the tunnel borer was all she had needed to see. She pushed it, the tunnel borer moving over and replacing the mining cart on the tracks.

"_Now just get behind it and start it up…and hopefully enjoy the ride…"_

The small control panel wasn't to hard to figure out, just turn a key before pulling a lever, the pressing the activation switch. It started up with a few shaky jerks, but soon it was taking a steady stride through the tunnel. As the main cavern neared, Lara saw the large metal crate that was suspended from the crane was now on the tracks, preventing the machine from progressing. She turned off the engine and hopped off, surprised to see Larson strolling from the control room. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out the blue fuse, waving it in the air.

"Sorry darlin', this is the end of the line." He said in a mock tone.

Lara rolled her eyes then shrugged her shoulders in annoyance.

She said sternly, "Just hand it over Larson, this has nothing to do with you."

"And what in the hell does it got to do with you? The Scion belongs to Natla. Face it, you got no business here." He said, one eyebrow raised in frustration.

"I don't have time for this, get out of the way," she drew her pistols, aiming them at his head, "or you die." To her surprise, he laughed.

"What ya gonna do, shoot me?" His mouth turned into a smile, and he began walking leisurely toward her.

"Now," he started calmly, "I know how bad you want this, but I can't let you pass. And we _both_ know your not gonna kill me for it."

Lara faltered a second, considering his words.

"That's just not who _you _are…"

These words continued to buzz in her head, quickly infuriating her.

"I'm not who you think I am…" She said reassuringly, aiming her weapons back toward him. His smile left, and was replaced by a look of shocked anger. She fired off a shot, Larson quickly ducking down and sliding to the left, drawing his shotgun.

He raised it up to shoot, and in a split second she fired, hitting him once in the arm. He faltered back, crying out in surprise and anger, then he turned and raised the shotgun again. This time she shot him in the gut, his body quickly quivering and spasming. He fell to the ground, dropping the empty shotgun from his hand. He kept his eyes locked on Lara, his eyebrows furrowing in an almost sad expression. His other hand, which was clinging his stomach tightly, slowly slid to the ground, his body slowly letting go of life. She looked away from his still open and surprised eyes, holstering her weapons. She reached into his back pocket, pulling out the blue fuse. She looked at him a bit longer, her thoughts racing.

"_I've…I've never really killed any body before. Is what I'm doing here this important to take the life of another human?"_

While no one reacts to death the same, Lara soon realized that someone like Natla couldn't be good to have such immense power like the Scion could produce. If Larson was hell bent on making sure she kept it, then he had to be stopped as well.

She wiped away a few spatters of his blood that had spilled onto her fingertips, making her way up to the control room to replace the fuse and move the crate from her path. After boarding the tunnel borer again, she continued the rest of the trip down the tracks, the cave soon coming in close and making things a little darker. The large device on the front started spinning at a frightening speed, and she soon saw several boards blocking the path come into view ahead.

She jumped off the giant machine, watching as it crashed and destroyed the flimsy looking boards and cleared open her next destination. She could also feel immense heat flowing from deep within, followed by a low reddish glow.

She walked around the borer, the tracks just stopping to…_fire._

Heat, burn, hot.

Anything that could describe the feeling came into her mind as she stepped into the blistering cavern, the temperature skyrocketing. Several fragments of ground that the tracks had been on were perched sparsely and sporadically across the enormous lava pit, several tiny streams pouring in from openings in the ceiling. Stalactites of different sizes and lengths covered the ceiling, some crumbling due to constant exposure to such high temperatures.

She was already dripping with sweat, and starting to feel groggy and more fatigued. She started by leaping over to a large fragment still standing, perched high above the lava.

The she could jumped over to a slanted piece left, which would take her to another larger metal column with fragments left on it. She jumped to it, the piece instantly wobbling due to her weight.

She extended her arms and then jumped at the bottom, grabbing on to a metal lip jutting from the column. She clambered up, wanting to get as far away from the heat as possible. She saw a thick, iron rod used in screed construction jutting from the side of the rock, and hooked her grapple on it to swing over to the far ledge and away from this lava filled deathtrap.

Cool air instantly hit her sweat-soaked face, and she stood for a moment to cool down and take several deep breaths of the crisp, cool underground draft. She saw up ahead an incredible sight; a giant, onyx pyramid, covered in dozens of stone spikes, giving the overall massive structure an impending and gothic look. Lava was flowing on either side, popping and bubbling out every so often.

She pulled herself up the ledge and began to stride toward the giant pyramid, seeing the figure of Kold facing away from her. She drew her guns, the sound of them leaving her holsters catching his attention.

"I was hoping you'd show up," he turned around, a large smile on his face, "I wanna make you scream." He finished, a smile still on his face.

"Unless you want to end up like Larson, get out of my way…" She said, trying to sound fierce but instead her voice ended up sounding a little shaky. She was still a little rocked by killing a man.

"It feels so good doesn't it? You cant explain it to people, you have to feel it…" He said, his tone turning more menacingly as he brought the blade of his combat knife across his palm. Lara's eyes widened as she realized that this man was truly a psychotic killer.

"Damn girl," the kid came around the corner zipping his jeans, "you gotta be outta your mind!" He said, raising a pair of Uzi's. Kold whipped the large knife around, causing Lara to perform a harrowing backflip to avoid the dangerously sharp blade.

The kid opened fired, sending a spray of Uzi bullets in her direction. She dived forward, her fingers working double overtime as she repeatedly squeezed the triggers of her pistols. She saw from the corner of her eye Kold leap into the air, combat knife risen defiantly. She jerked her pistols around and fired the last of the rounds into him, causing him to crumble to his knees.

She ejected the clips, her eyes focusing back on the kid as she heard him reload the semi automatics. He beat her first, and was already sending torrents of the 9mm bullets at her. She dived behind a rock, quickly stuffing two magazines into the pistols.

"Not so hard now are ya?" He asked sarcastically, his mock tone echoing in the vast chamber.

She was on her feet in a flash, already running around the other side of the rock to send fresh waves of pistol bullets in his direction. He ducked down, turning to face her in anger; machine gun ammo already whizzing past her by mere centimeters.

"She's MINE!" Came Kold's deep voice, suddenly standing and tearing through the kid with his combat knife, picking him up with the handle of the knife and tossing him effortlessly to the side. He cracked his neck, now turning to face Lara again. She furrowed her eyebrows, taking a defensive stance as he began a death stride toward her. He swiped-

-and she jumped up onto his shoulder, springing off in a 180 degree spin, now filling his body full of hot lead. But, as though immune to the numerous shots, he ran at her again, this time smile on his face. She felt her lips twist into a snarl as she start emptying the clips into the killing machine-

-and he suddenly had her neck in one strong, firm grip. She dropped her pistols, instantly trying to pry his fat fingers from there death grip. She started choking, horrible grunts coming from deep within her throat. He was watching her like a wild animal, almost studying the life slowly draining from her-

-and then there was an eruption of gun fire, Kold's body suddenly belted from behind by the kids submachine gun fire. He let go, collapsing to the ground-dead. She looked between the two dead bodies, somewhere in her body thankful she wasn't the cause of death. She felt her hand ball into a fist of anger, turning instead to examine the monstrous pyramid. Five of the spike-looking stone columns metal and covered in ancient hieroglyphics that she recognized instantly.

"_Mummies…Centaurs…bat-demons…This race was part of an actual ancient civilization, still flourishing in places to protect the Scion pieces, tombs in the middle of nowhere, so nothing and no body would ever find them. Without the right keys and information, of course, which is something I luckily have…"_

The massive stone door, set around a decorate stone ledge protruding ominously from the front, was locked, five ancient carvings going down the length of the door.

"_Have I truly found the lost continent of Atlantis…? Something my father was practically shunned for believing? …And he knew I'd find it one day…"_

There were several rocky crags going about halfway up each side of the pyramid. One side was particularly higher, granting her access to the spines covering the structure. Set back on the wall above the giant door was a ledge, a glowing orange light around it.

"_Powered by the flow of lava? This technology is frighteningly advanced for its time…I can't even imagine how far back the Atlanteans go…"_

She checked Kold's body for ammo, coming up with nothing but a small medical kit, which she stored away. She checked the kid's Uzi's, disappointingly finding the magazines empty. She did find about a dozen pistol clips in his fanny back, with several more in each of his pockets, which she restocked her clip holders on her belt with, having a handful left over to store in her backpack.

After securing for anything else useful, she started her ascent up the rocky cliff, coming dangerously close to flowing molten rock. She would have enough room atop each pillar to barely squeeze two feet on, but she was hoping her keen sense of balance could help her out; of course it was still as sharp as it was in high school. She jumped, landing easily.

She had been expecting something from like the traps in the tombs-skinny, shaky, _old_. They were not only thicker, but also made of stone; thus they were much sturdier.

She jumped to the next one, which instantly began a slow descent down into a hidden crevice. A bright, red hot light shot up from it, and she quickly leaped forward, almost over shooting the jump.

One of the five big carvings on the large door light up, Lara now realizing that somehow the flow of lava _did_ flow through channels and power the mechanisms and technology for the Great Pyramid. She kept a steady balance, and slowly maneuvered the spikes by small hops, landing on the appropriate one and then hopping back to another stone one.

After all five lit up, two channels going down each side of the door in a mysterious design lit up as lava flow was filtered through it; the door not budging, however. She hopped over to the ledge above the door, pulling the switch with much force. The entire pyramid slightly shook as she felt the stone door slide open, now the sound of gears moving deep from within the pyramid.

"_This is it…__**This**__ is unexplored territory…This is where I step it up…"_

She slid down the face of the onyx structure, peering down into the massive stone passageway. Arches were separated evenly down the entire length, each covered in glowing Atlantean hieroglyphics.

"…Wow…"

She muttered softly.


	15. Chapter 14: The Great Pyramid

Chapter 14

**The Great Pyramid**

At the top of each archway was a larger, brightly glowing rune, each one identical.

"_So, it's more important somehow…"_

The long corridor was exceptionally wide, intended probably for something much larger than her to fit through it, making her stomach quiver with uneasiness. It took a sharp right, and she could see as the passageway slightly dipped downward, a large, expansive room. She hurried on, keeping a palm resting on one of her pistols.

"_Something doesn't feel right at all. Something __**isn't **__right…"_

The steam-filled chamber was hot and muggy, due to the boiling hot lava far below. Pulsing on the walls were huge, red amniotic sacs, each one being fed by thick red veins that snaked around the wall they were attached to. In all there were six of them, three on each side of the room.

At the end was another short passageway, and she hurried over to it as quickly as she could, wanting to distance herself from the breeding chamber as much as possible. A deep rumbling emanated from the bubbling lava as she reached the end of the corridor, looking up the long, massive vertical shaft.

Many more of the pulsing sacs lined each side of the shaft, each one holding something large and unknown. At the top, she spied Natla, clutching the Scion. She was marveling at it, twisting and turning it in her hands. Finally she walked over disappeared from site, a bright white-purple light exploding from some ancient device in the middle of the room.

She felt the Great Pyramid shake, then a deafening explosion as boulders flew from the mountain, now revealing the pyramid itself.

"_It's rising up…She's activated it with the Scion somehow…"_

She turned and headed away from the slowly rising lava and back into the incubation chamber, the closest fluid sac pulsing more intensely.

The surrounding walls near the sacs were now covered in a pinkish-reddish colored flesh, pulsing with the sacs in a disturbing rhythm. Finally, a middle sac exploded, dark red blood and fluid flying everywhere, the sac hanging on the wall like a wet paper bag.

A winged demon flew out, extending its arms and legs; each one armed with sharp claws. She drew her pistols and immediately open fired, peppering its deformed, skinless body with shots. But it wasn't long before another sac exploded. And then a third one.

She spotted another one of the bat demon Atlanteans, and then one on all fours, just like the mummies! Only with the tattered bandages gone, she could clearly see that this was one of the pyramid bread Atlantean monsters. It immediately raised up, a ball of white light forming in between its raised hands. In a sonic, low pitched _boom _sound it shoot forward, now a flaming ball rushing toward her. She panicked, clumsily stumbling to the left. She tripped-

-the ball of fiery energy just missing her and exploding on contact as it collided with the stone wall, sending rock pieces flying. She was pulling herself back to her feet, and senses, when suddenly strong claws were grasping her backpack, lifting her in an instant five feet.

She dropped one of the pistols trying to un-holster it, quickly reaching for the second. The creature howled, a high pitched throaty sound that echoed from the vast chamber walls. She shot blindly behind her, the bullets hitting its body in disgusting, wet snapping sounds.

The creature dropped her, thankfully after falling several feet. She barrel rolled, grabbing the other weapon in the process, and was on her feet in a second. The wounded monster flew up to a second floor walkway that went around the length of the room, more than likely resting and waiting for the other two 'comrades' to finish her off.

She pelted the cat monster as it was rushing at her, hissing and growling as the shots entered its head and upper chest. It seemed to be a slight weakness for it and the entire Atlantean race in general. One of its glowing eyes exploded, and the monster slowly slid to the ground, defiant to fight at death. The bat thing swept down low, swiping at her furiously. She open fired with both guns, almost point blank, until its wings were nothing but tattered flaps of skin.

It was soon on the ground, crawling pathetically toward her as it tried to uselessly flap its broken wings. She shot it dead, gratefully ending the poor, animal's life.

She looked up and saw that the second one had died as well, still in a half sitting position. Blood was dripping from it, forming a small pool on the floor below it. She saw through the strong, gold covered iron grating in the floor that there was lava far below, just like over at the base of the shaft.

"_It looks awfully low. I wonder if its because the pyramid has been so inactive for centuries? …Is the Scion really capable of re-powering this ancient city?"_

She shook her head, pushing the thoughts deeper into her mind.

"_No one would believe this…It's all up to me I suppose…"_

She looked around and spotted a ladder to her left, nicely tucked away in a shadowy corner. She ascended it, the winding passage coming out on a ledge a good football field away from where she had stood once before. She looked around, seeing various ledges going up the shaft.

"_Is this the only way…? For me it'll have to do…"_

This place was old, so time must also have been able to help in some sort of way, from creating little cracks to move around in and places to hook a grapple to. Also going up the shaft on the walls were huge, hexagonal shaped carving, each one covered in intricate glowing symbols and important looking runes in each center.

The egg sacs also worried her, realizing she might have to get dangerously close to a couple if she wished to ascend as close to where she had seen Natla stand. The ledge on the next wall over was rather easy to get to, only a short hop and she was there. But, this put her much farther away from the one on the other wall. Protruding from the top of one of the hex monuments on the wall was an onyx and gold ring, welded superbly on to the onyx wall.

She reached back and grabbed her grapple, extending the wire a little bit so she could wind up some speed to throw it. It hooked, barely, but she managed to tug on it to secure it a little better. The wall run would be a long one, and she have to jump backward from the wall to hit the ledge and land just right.

"_Perfect. No problem…"_

She closed her eyes and jumped laterally, hitting the wall running at just the right time. She heard the hook scratching against the hook as it slowly started to slip from the hold it had, and she jumped a bit early-

-right as the hook detached, otherwise sending her plummeting into the boiling magma below. She caught the ledge one handed, struggling a moment to reach up and regain her grip.

She heard the sound of another sac breaking open, and felt some of the warm fluid splash on her shoulders and face. She looked down, pulling herself up as quickly as she could as another bat Atlantean came flying out with a death howl. A second sac higher exploded, and another demon flew our, creating a flameball just as the ground soldiers had done.

She drew her guns, her eyes locked on the monster as it hurled it forward, unaware that the first demon was heading toward its deadly path of destruction. It collided, a red cloud of red and matter colored the walls around it, raining down near a frightened and disgusted Lara.

The bat creature who had thrown the projectile flew down, chasing the corpse of the fallen beast; even into the hot steaming magma below. She saw above this ledge there was another one of the big hex shaped sigils, and in the center was a set of golden, thin rings going in a spiraling downward shape.

"_Like a bulls eye…" _

She drew a pistol and shot at it several times, finally one of the shots connecting with a resounding _ping! _

The platform slowly slid upward, taking her several stories past ledges and hooked rings. Finally, as the hidden elevator slowed, she saw she was near a timed set of hooks, with two hex sigils on the walls and two onyx slabs sliding her down into the lava far below if she should slide for to long.

The rings would only come out for a short amount of time, soon retracting it the wall, sure to also send her plummeting to her death. But, should she make it she'd be at the last ledge, leading to a passageway that took a sharp left. Also, above the doorway was a last sac, pulsing more feverishly than the rest.

"_Probably ready to pop…"_

She reloaded her pistols and aimed them toward the abomination, firing into the sac repeatedly, until both full clips were empty. Fluid had created a small pool below, something wriggling inside slowly before settling down to die. Something so disturbing, yet horrendously sad at the same time. She watched the puzzle trap to get a feel for the timing, then readied her jump to a broken column in the corner of the shaft, one that would slide her to the first ramp downward.

Jumping that would be easy, but then swinging and hooking her grapple the _first_ time to swing to the second ramp and jump to hook the second ring before it goes in the_ first_ time then jump _backward_ to hit the ledge slippery and covered in _blood_.

"…_No…sweat…?"_

She took several deep breaths and then sprinted forward, jumped and hitting the pillar spot on. She jumped forward, her adrenaline pounding in her ears, and hit the first ramp, taking quick glances up at the onyx ring. It was out, she threw the grapple and it hooked. She wall ran, banging her knee on the wall as she swung down, but unhooked at the right time to hit the second ramp. The ring wasn't out yet, and she was sliding frighteningly fast. The bottom quickly came, and she jumped, the ring coming out later than expected. She threw the grapple blindly, closing her eyes the accept the few seconds of free falling before the quick, scalding death-

-but it hooked, and she swung down, opening her eyes and quickly running forward, jumped backward from the wall as hard as she could-

-and landing on her feet in a crouched position, a slight smile on her lips. She looked at her knee, shocked to see a thin, steady stream of blood trailing down to her boot, soaking the top of her white sock crimson. She reached into her backpack and removed the medical kit, finding some antiseptic wipes and bandages in a pouch, along with a small bottle of water.

She cleaned up her knee, taping the square bandage with tap that would still allow skin to move freely. Handy to have on an adventure. She drank the rest of the water and tossed the trash over the ledge, and then headed down the corridor, the archways and runes giving off soft, gentle glowing light. Subtle, yet enough to see with. She heard the repeated sounds of something heavy crashing together-traps. She saw that the corridor slanted upward, which was good.

"_Up is where Miss Natla is…"_

She sees first the three large doorways, each small free space in between each one line with a device shooting lava darts, something the Peruvians must have mimicked.

"_I'm witnessing evolution…!"_

In each doorway there was something similar to the Egyptians wall slamming traps, only these were thin sheets of metal lined with small, razor sharp 'teeth', three in fact all closely adjacent to each other and slamming in a _bang! bang! bang! _rhythm. She also saw that above each archway was a brightly glowing rune, something that she knew had to be important here.

"_Analyze…Predict…Survive…?"_

She drew one of her guns and fired at it several times, and it went out. Also for the period of time it was out, the lava darts stopped.

"_Ah, right…"_

She fired at it again, then moved accordingly through each crushing wall-lava dart trap until she was at the top and through unscathed. Turning right at the corner, she saw she could slide into the next square chamber. There was some circular device in the center, steam and the amber glow coming from a grate in the center.

There were two stone bridges here as well, and a ladder to access each one. There was a switch at the end of the one closest to her, and the one farthest away had a door and beside it, another switch.

The gloomy chamber was also filled with the wet, spongy sounds of several sacks pulsing, a very bad sign indeed. She had to slide down into the room, and as soon as she did she heard two sacs open, one right after the other. Two ground crawlers fell out, and she drew both pistols, aiming at both monsters with each one. She saw something moving directly across from her, looking almost human. She focused first on killing the two Atlanteans, which were premature and went down easily.

She holstered her weapons and walked closer toward the device in the middle of the room, keeping her eyes on the thin monster that was incredibly doing the exact same thing _she_ was doing.

"_Wait a second…No way…"_

The more she stared at the bizarre creature, the more she began to see nothing more than a skinned copy of…_herself._ It was an Atlantean soldier of course, but somehow Natla's sick mind had made this revolting creation be a clone of Lara, and it mimicked her every move. She opened her mouth, and the disturbing, soulless creature did the only thing it knew how, to mimic her by opening its mouth. Lara said a few words, but the Atlantean doppelganger only moved its lips with what she was saying; no voice at all. She felt a shiver go down her spine, now turning to face away from it.

She heard it shuffle around as well. She looked around, seeing the bridge in front of her was the one that only had a switch. Opposite end of the bridge was a ladder, and she could see through holes in the support column that it was actually hollow and led down into a small vat of lava.

"_So this switch must open the opening to the lava, and the switch behind me must open the door outta here."_

She walked over and started up the ladder, glimpsing over to see the doppelganger climbing up the other one as well. She saw a golden circular hatch covering the opening, and she jumped from the ladder on top of it; it held her weight just fine.

She walked over and pulled the switch, hearing it slide back on hidden hinges to reveal the lava opening, steam pouring out. She lowered herself down from the bridge, unable to look away as she watched her clone look over and stare at her as well, instantly giving her the shivers. She looked away, from the corner of her eye seeing it do the same as well. She climbed up, then looked over as she jumped onto the bridge, watching the Atlantean doppelganger instead falls flailing and screaming into the lava below.

"_Talk about being your own worst enemy…"_

She pulled the switch that was down here, opening the large metal double doors at the end. An egg sac exploded from inside the door as it opened, a bat Atlantean flying out. She pulled out her guns, taking the chance to shoot it as it struggled to fly through the doors.

It soon fell down into a puddle of its own blood, writhing and wriggling around before finally dying. She took the wide, dark passageway down several turns, dodging a lava dart trap in the process. At the end a grand looking opening came into view, an ornate, golden lined bridge leading to it over a large pool of bubbling lava. Ahead she saw the silhouette of three large, spiky looking thrones. She walked quietly as she passed through the grand entrance.

Lara stepped into the Atlantean Throne Room. In the center was a pedestal, covered in the amber glowing hieroglyphics of the Atlantean language. The Scion was floating in the middle, somehow powering everything from this device. She walked over to the big opening, peering down the deep central shaft of the Great Pyramid. The tiny glowing square at the bottom was the great pool of lava she had seen entering the pyramid from Natla's mines.

"You've reached the top Lara, there's no where left to go…but down."

She turned and saw Natla, wearing a black and red medieval queen dress, with an Atlantean gold crown and golden spike plates on the edge of her wings, which she folded open broadly. Lara looked over Natla's shoulder and saw around five of the Atlantean crawlers. The leader of the group growled, its skinless lips snarling, showing huge fangs. Another one hissed.

"You're rebuilding the army of Atlantis…?" She asked Natla, her voice shaking.

"This pyramid breeds far more than the soldiers you've faced. Now that I have the Scion I have the means to create anything I desire…" Natla took slow, long strides around Lara, eyeing her warily.

"What is it you desire Natla…?" Lara asked, her voice echoing in the vast cavern.

Natla looked up, then placed one of her long alien hands on the back of one of the thrones.

"It takes three to rule. Tihocan and Qualopec were too weak to destroy what stands in the way of the Seventh Age. But you have the strength to claim this seat beside me."

"This is madness!" Lara said breathlessly.

"_This_ is what you've been searching for! All the answers you've sought your entire life are within the Scion. Immortality has its price, but what are a few lives to sacrifice for your dreams…?"

Lara looked at her hands, remembering her final encounter with Larson, the Kid, and Kold.

"Help me, and I can give you anything. Wouldn't you like to know what happened to your parents? What about a…second chance? You're here, because you belong here Lara…" Natla finished, smiling at the last sentence.

Lara looked away, trying to decide between her dreams or the right thing.

"_And if I do the right thing, mother and father are still dead and I'll never know what happens. I have no purpose because I have nobody that cares, even if I die in one of those old tombs…"_

Lara lowered her head and whispered the apology to Lord Richard Croft. "I'm sorry father…" 

Natla smiled in approval-

-but was stopped as Lara quickly drew one of her pistols and aimed it at the pedestal holding the Scion-

-and fired, the entire pyramid quickly starts to shake and rumble.

"NOOOO!!" Natla screamed and lunged at Lara, making both plummet off the edge. Lara fired twice into a screaming Natla, then kicked off her and fired twice more before throwing the grappling hook and hooking the next ledge down across from the Throne Room.

Natla fell screaming into the fiery bottom of the lava pit put into her own pyramid built for her dreams. She pulled herself up, lying on her back a moment to catch her breath. She hears a low beat of something pulsing, and looks over to the flesh covered wall. Its moving around sporadically, something large writhing about inside.

"_Uh oh…"_


	16. Chapter 15: Atlantis

Chapter 15

**Atlantis**

Her mouth was agape as she stared in awe at the sac, huge in size and girth. She drew both of her pistols, slowly aiming them at the _thing_ moving around inside. Finally the bottom of the sac broke open, blood and fluids covering the entire area around it.

A giant legless, skinless Atlantean abomination fell out, his weight causing the entire cavern to rumble. His large, hideously deformed face was covered for the moment as the monster reached up and covered it with his large, muscle-bony hands.

She finally snapped out of her trance and open fired, the Atlantean giant screaming and bounding toward her with one single, fluid movement. She dived to the side, several of the bullets connecting with the things head. It rolled off the ledge, Lara relieved for a moment that the thing went down that easily-

-but had to quickly perform an athletic backflip as beast suddenly vaulted back up on to the platform, landing where she had stood moments before. She continued to fire, the thing taking several swipes at her as she ducked and dived, barely missing them. Finally I reared up and went to grab at her, bringing its hand down with frightening force.

She heard wet-snapping sounds as thick black blood suddenly spewed from its wrist, the large hand getting caught in a crack near the ledge.

Lara brushed several locks of hair from her eyes and quickly open fired, trying to sever its huge, monstrous hand. It used its free arm to slam the ground, causing her to stumble and lose her balance. Finally the abomination tore its own hand off, wanting to free itself and kill her as quickly as possible.

Natla had used the Scion to create some pretty disgusting monsters, but this thing was definitely the worst of them all. She continued to fire at it, moving backward toward the edge as much as she could, a plan forming in her mind.

"_Timing has gotta be perfect…"_

She emptied the clips into the beast, reloading them to continue the process. Finally, just as she expected, the Atlantean came barreling toward her, and she dived away, the thing rolling off. She open fired on its hand that held on, breaking off its thick, slimy fingers with the hot lead.

Finally the creature's remaining hand shattered, and it fell from the platform screaming and thrashing into the hot molten lava below, drowning pathetically in the sea of magma. She turned back toward the large opening that the sac was now hanging above, careful to avoid as much of the amniotic fluid as possible.

Ahead she saw a flowing river of red-hot magma, and the corridor came to a stop. She saw a circular rock platform sitting in the middle of the lava, and saw to the right another platform a hop away, then there was a small 'lavafall' where she could no longer go.

But thankfully, protruding high from the molten rock was a pole she could perch on, then the cave turned left and she couldn't see anything further. She jumped to the first rock, worried at first that it might sink into the lava, then jumped to the one near the edge, now able to see around the corner.

There was a platform, with a switch on the wall. At the far end of the room she saw an opening on the right wall and a passageway that extended further. She eyed the pole closely, watching as it swayed slowly as the lava rocked the base of it.

"_Better make this quick…"_

She jumped to it, extended her arms to help her balance-

-when suddenly the pole started to sink further, dipping down very quickly. She jumped toward the platform one handed, hoping for the best-

-and caught, pulling herself up as the wooden pole slid smoothly underneath the lava flow. She pulled the switch here, the platform she was standing on starting to slide into the wall. But as it did this, another ledge started coming out of the far wall ahead, allowing her to hop over and continue through the connecting corridor.

Here the chamber opened up, and she could see a large door to her left. She walked carefully over to it, peering inside. There was an octagonal shaped pool of water, glowing hieroglyphics going up all sides of the cavern wall, casting a soft orange and amber glow.

She heard the distinct sound of the hooves, and jumped back as an Atlantean centaur came bounding out, neighing like a horse.

It skidded to a stop, but not soon enough, as it tripped and fell into the lava pool at the end of the room. She felt relieved, but couldn't watch the poor creature slowly burn to death. She headed into the inner cavern, seeing an underwater tunnel extending further into the caves, blocked off however by two circular gratings.

She saw on the far wall there was a device made to slide downward on the cave wall, a pressure point above it. She strode over and pulled down on it, drawing a pistol with the other hand to shoot the now fully exposed bull's eye. One of the gratings slowly slid open, creating pockets of air bubbles that rose to the surface of the pool.

Over near some streaming magma was a pile of rocks, which she clambered over to find another hidden wall sliding device, this one broken and the amber runes not glowing anymore. She shot the pressure point several times, finally activating it.

She hurried hastily over the rocks, and saw the second and final grate had opened halfway; enough, however for Lara to fit through.

She heard one of the fluid sacs hatch, and saw a bat Atlantean soldiers fly down. She peppered it with bullets, tearing the wings as it was in mid air. She dived to the side as its carcass came tumbling toward her, slamming against the pile of rubble, dead. She stood up, reloading and then holstering her pistols, then approached the pool of water.

She dived in, passing through the tunnel after lighting a flare to see. It winded past some broken fragments of onyx, and she had to swim past some rocks to squeeze her way through the underwater path, but finally was able to surface in a quiet, gloomy chamber. Ahead she saw more streams of lava pooling from the ceiling, adding to the already steady flow going right.

She walked down the corridor, the heat and temperature increasing alarmingly, and saw that down below the scalding lava room was a ladder, extending into unexplored territory.

There were some stone pieces still showing in several places, and from what she could see below was a ladder, still standing against the extreme heat.

Several flaming balls of rock would occasionally fall from the stalactites above, causing for some extra bit of caution as she lowered herself down from the ledges, trying to keep several feet between her and lava flow. She dropped, landing on a stone rock in the middle of the lava pool.

It began to tremble, and she heard the deep wet sloshing sounds as it slowly started to sink into the molten rock. She jumped forward, landing on another smaller rock, and it to started to sink.

She then jumped to a lip jutting from the wall above, flame piece now falling inches from her body. She saw the Atlanteans had set up a flame trap around the corner, making the otherwise simple hop to the end much more difficult.

There was a gold and onyx bar that would occasionally come out from the wall for a short period of time, and if she timed it right past the flame trap then she could jump, do a nice spin and land on the other ledge no problem. She waited, then leaped forward, grabbing the pole-

-but one hand slipped as a piece of flaming debris fell on it, making her quickly let go and land haphazardly on the ledge. She patted her hand off, looking around to make sure she wasn't in any more immediate danger.

"_Not your average child's tea party, but I think I could get used to this…"_

She climbed up the ladder, finally seeing light shining in from the impossibly high ceiling.

"_The tip of the pyramid…?"_

Lara strode into the ceremonial chamber at the top of pyramid, eyeing her surroundings. Several stone pillars were circling the room, accented with glowing symbols.

She heard the flapping of wings, followed by a deep red glow that came speeding in from the opening in the ceiling. The strange, bat-like creature swooped in around the skylight, hovering to stop.

It was Natla! Her skin was charred and red, glowing markings going the length of her body. Her long blonde hair was now replaced with a terrible mystical red flame shooting up from her skull, piercing beady red eyes replacing the fake human ones.

"Thousands of years I've waited for this moment! Do you realize what you've done?!" She screeched, throwing her hands up in a fit of rage. Lara drew her pistols and aimed them toward the Atlantean Queen.

"The blood on your hands! Do you believe it was spilled for the good of all man, or for your own selfish desire?!" She looked away in a moment of thought.

"Look inside yourself Lara, your heart is as black as mine!" the queen barked.

In a blinding white light Natla shot three fireballs simultaneously, each one exploding right after the other. Lara did several spins, followed by a forward dive, missing each ball of inferno by mere inches.

She began firing toward Natla's mutated, true form, trying to destroy her wings as she flew around Lara, almost like a vulture circling something dead. In red streak Natla had flown overtop of Lara, growling and swiping at her. She shot up several times blindly, trying feebly to knock the bat demon from hell away. She heard Natla screech, and saw she was now flying lopsided, and much _much_ slower.

"_No just get the other wing, and she's done for…!"_

She ejected the magazines, quickly loading in fresh ones to send another torrent of the 9mm shots. Natla launched several more white-hot balls of energy at Lara again, this time the projectiles slamming into one of the large, Atlantean columns that supported the top of the pyramid.

The structure rumbled again, becoming weaker now that the Scion had been destroyed. Natla spiraled to the ground, skidding to a stop on the ground. She emptied the rest of the clips into the fallen Atlantean, then reloaded quickly, keeping her eyes locked on her unmoving figure. She leaned up, and Lara quickly aimed her guns back toward the demon-

-and she suddenly sprung forward, wrapping a single hand around her neck, lifting her up off the ground and close to her demonic face.

"I cannot die you ignorant fool." Natla said, smiling. She tossed Lara easily across the room. She rolled, then skidded to a halt, crouched.

"Sooner or later, you'll run out of bullets." She said, an evil smirk on her face.

She open fired, a hazy red orb forming around her, causing the bullets to bounce like rubber. She then raised her arms, a single bright white ball forming above her head-

-and was instantly shot forward, Lara scrambling to the ground, covering her head with her hands. She felt the giant projectile whiz past her pack, exploding a huge section of stone from the wall behind her in a deafening _BOOM_. She stood up, ejecting the magazines, her pistols becoming hot. Natla reared back as she reloaded her final clips, flinging one of her damaged wings forward. Lara aimed the weapons forward-

-but was taken by surprise as her wing sent both pistols flying from her grasp. Natla reared back-

-and Lara flipped over as she leapt at her, claws extended. She landed and turned to see Natla spring off one of the pillars and leap at her again, this time grasping each of Lara's shoulders in her firm grasp. She lunged her backward, making her crash sideways painfully into a column. She was on her stomach, and managed to lift herself up off the ground.

"What have you really accomplished here?! Nothing! Just a temporary stay of execution for your kind."

Lara felt her lip curl up in anger, her breath coming in shallow.

"This island is only one remnant of Atlantis! I will find another! But you Lara, you have lost everything!" Natla put her hands together, a bright fire forming between them as she prepared another fireball. Lara looked up and saw her pistol lying a few feet away. She jumped up, diving forward to barely miss Natla's projectile.

She grabbed the gun and stood up, aiming it directly toward her face. She fired, the bullet catching her temple. She howled in pain, clutching her head.

The entire pyramid began to rumble, and Lara spotted a pillar shaking dangerously behind Natla. She reached back and grabbed her grappling hook and threw it as hard as she could, getting it caught on one of the edges. She pulled back with all her might, causing the giant column of stone to fall forward. Natla looked up, anger flooding her face. Lara smiled as the Queen looked back-

-and her scream was silenced as the pillar crushed her entire body with a deafening explosion.

"No, I haven't lost everything…" She whispered. The whole structure began to crumble, lava spewing from multiple cracks quickly spreading throughout the onyx pyramid. Another giant column fell, breaking a hole open near the ceiling. She quickly started up the column, the smooth onyx becoming hotter and hotter to the touch.

"…_This place is gonna blow…"_

She reached the opening and stood up running, the corridors going by in a blur. She jumped and grabbed a ledge high up, quickly vaulting and continuing her sprint, barely breaking stride.

Finally light hit her eyes, and she was suddenly careening downward as trees and vegetation went by in a blur, the ocean overlooking the mountain as the pyramid began shaking tremendously. Several humongous boulders rolled past her as she was sliding downward, crashing into the ground below and exploding into millions of tiny rock fragments.

She jumped the last several feet, rolling as she hit the ground and jumping up as the pyramid was suddenly engulfed in flames. She heard an earth-shattering explosion, hundreds of fiery debris launched into the sky.

The explosion propelled her forward, giving her just enough time to slide smoothly into the cold ocean water in a swan dive. She heard rocks crashing all around her, entering the water by the dozens, and was swimming on pure adrenaline as Natla's yacht came into view.

"_My last escape…My only hope…!"_

She climbed up the ladder, scrambling over to rev up the engine. It took several minutes to slowly pick up speed, all the while Lara glancing back as the entire island was slowly transformed into a hellish inferno.

There was a great volcanic eruption of lava where the pyramid had once stood, Lara fearing that the entire island may soon explode. She hit down full throttle and locked in cruise control, looking back as the Lost Island of Atlantis slowly burned in the explosion of the Great Pyramid.

No one could ever go on her word alone that she had unearthed the Atlanteans most prized artifact, the Scion, and destroyed it in order to protect the human race from certain destruction by Natla's evil scheme to bring about the 'Seventh Age'. She had killed a man in there, and now realized that it was the right and only just thing she could have done.

She removed her favorite round sunglasses from her backpack, hiding her brown eyes as she stretched out on the yacht, drawing a pistol and staring as the island exploded in one final eruption, the boat speeding into the clouds of an upcoming storm.

"_Its gonna be a long trip back home…"_

**But somehow, after all she had seen and been through, Lara Croft was content and eagerly awaited to arrive home to tell of her exploits.**


	17. Epilogue: Croft Manor

Epilogue

**Croft Manor, 1997**

"…?"

"Um, what is it, if I may ask Lady Croft."

"It's an assault course! I decided to build it to hone my skills, and learn some new ones."

Winston shook his head.

"Well, its very well put together." He finally replied, staring at the array of boxes, ropes, jumps, slides, and ladders, all atop a giant sandpit. Lara sighed.

"Well its no surprise, you've been working on this blasted thing for two weeks now. I'd say you fancy some tea?" She nodded vigorously.

"Quite. And will you fetch the mail please?" She asked politely. He nodded, taking a side door into the kitchen. She stood up, strolling into the kitchen as well.

On the counter already was a cup of ice tea, and beside it a stack of letters. She grabbed her tea and the stack, then walked over into her lounge room where she flipped on some classical music and sat down on one of her luxurious sofa's, picking one that overlooked her gardens and maze.

"Lets see…junk, junk, business offer, junk, travel brochure, request…Wait a tick, what's this…?"

There was a plain white envelope, with no stamp, return address, or even sealed for that matter. She pulled out the contents, which was only a single typewritten letter. The top half had been torn away, leaving only a single paragraph left to read.

There will be a reward if you can find any clues relating to this "Dagger of Xian". The relic has many mysterious and vast powers, not anything to be taken lightly. Please relocate to the Great Wall in China immediately.

"Winston! Come take a look at this!" She called out, re-reading the ominous note.

"Yes Ms. Croft?"

"Look at this. It was in my mail."

She handed him the letter, and watched as his face contorted into a look of confusion.

"I don't understand, can you?"

She shook her head.

"No, but I've heard of the dagger they mentioned before. The legend is farther most intriguing by far." She let out a small laugh.

"My trophy room is looking a little empty, and I haven't done a single thing since my little encounter with Natla last year. All I got from it was a few fragments of the Scion. Besides, someone obviously wants this thing found. So maybe it is a good idea that that person be me."

"I don't know, it seems suspicious to me." He replied, handing the letter back to her.

"I don't care, I have a feeling that a trip to China may be in the works here very soon…"


End file.
